Morning lessons in -6ºC for rural pupils

KIDS at a Castell de Castells primary school have been forced to shiver in sub-zero temperatures because the heating is not working.

In fact, it has not been functioning properly for five years, and pupils and teachers alike have now had enough.

With the thermometer plunging to around 5ºC in the Marina Alta's landlocked parts even on a good day – and freefalling to -6ºC in the daytime during the worst of the freezing front – most of the Serrella primary's 22 children have caught severe colds.

The diesel-powered boiler was replaced with an 'energyefficient' version during the 2014-2015 school year, but proved to be anything but what it said on the tin: in the first year, teachers had to manually configure it to make it heat at all, and since then, it spends more time out of action than providing warmth.

Since the start of the 2019 winter term on January 7, the boiler has only worked properly for four full days.

Teachers signed an open letter to the council in the first week of term saying they did not care whether the school had a diesel or a 'green' boiler, just as long as it worked.

Mayor Vicente Tomás Estalrich says repairers and engineers have been sent out.

These workers turn up immediately and get the boiler working, only for it to fail again the next day.

And it has to be switched on manually first thing in the morning – the time of day when the mercury is at its lowest.

Children now eat lunch in the playground, where it is warmer than in their canteen.

Some parents have stopped taking their kids to school when temperatures fall – and one day this week, only two pupils turned up to class.

Despite the heating issue, Castell de Castells is desperate to hang onto its school, since if education authorities decide it is no longer viable due to diminishing pupil numbers, the village will feel the rural exodus even harder.