Big upset has arisen in his school community 18th Primary School of Volosafter plaster fell inside the hall on Monday, which almost hit students and a teacher.

The parents who were at the school yesterday, Tuesday, asked that it not work for the next few days and that a full check be done. The technical services of the Municipality went to the school yesterday and checked every room.

In the meantime, the fall of the plaster in the school in question highlights tthe major issue of maintaining school curricula, in the majority of which a simple painting is done in the summer, as was done in the 18th Board of Directors last summer. In fact, the Parents’ Association of the Municipality of Volos talks about many schools that are facing maintenance problems.

Terrified and worried are the parents of the students of the 18th Primary School of Volos, in whose hall on Monday a large piece of plaster fell and luckily did not injure the students or the teacher. Yesterday the school didn’t work, although some parents took their children to school, with the Association of Parents and Guardians calling for solutions to get children into a safe school.

“In the room where the plaster fell, another piece fell today in the same room and the technical services did a check and it also fell in the adjacent one and we are waiting to be told if the rooms are safe or not,” said Mrs. Lila Moraitou yesterday. president of the Association of Parents and Guardians of the 18th Primary School of Volos.

The event happened on Monday, while the president pointed out that it happened a few minutes after the bell rang for the children to return to the hall. So the bell rang, five children entered initially, one student saw the ceiling and urged her classmates to move away from the scene. As the rest of the children entered the classroom, the plaster fell. The English teacher had just left her things and went to make photocopies otherwise, as Mrs. Moraitou said, we would be grieving victims.

However, this is not the first time the school has faced problems. According to her “in 2016 a similar one had happened incident, they had moved then, tried to solve the problem, fixed it and we thought everything was fine. Today there was no lesson, we took the children. Some children who remained were taken by the teachers and put in a safe room. We are waiting for the decision from the Municipality of Volos and for them to tell us if the school is safe”.

The Association, as Mrs. Moraitou pointed out, requested that the school not operate, as there will be a gap for the Easter holidays, that the lessons be done via Webex and that the children come back after Easter, having done all the necessary work.

The problems have existed for many years

Also present at the school yesterday was Mrs. Chryssa Megagiannis, president of the Association of Parents and Guardians of the 29th Board of Volos, which is co-located with the 18th Board.

“We are essentially a large school complex, which is attended by over 250 children, two primary schools and three kindergartens. The problems have existed for many years, we keep making allusions both to the Mayor and through the Parents’ Association who have always been by our side, until we reached the Ministry to see if something can be done for our school. At this moment we have reached the impasse, something must be done, our children are in danger” she emphasized.

In fact, he responded to statements by the mayor of Volos in his radio interview that “there is no problem, a piece of plaster fell, what happened?”. “Nothing happened because plasters did not fall on the head of his own child. If they fell what would happen? Who would be responsible? Is it our responsibility if we send the children to school tomorrow or the Mayor’s? I can’t close the school, but the mayor can. Don’t shift the responsibility onto us”, added Mrs. Megagianni.

And other schools with problems – We have not received any answers from the Municipality

Mr. Antonis Bekos, president of the Parents’ Association of the Municipality of Volos, was also present at the school, stressing that similar problems are faced by other schools in the Municipality of Volos, while after the incident was publicized, the Association received many phone calls from parents of students who attend other schools and stressed the problems that exist in other school buildings.

“We have repeatedly asked the Municipality to take all the necessary actions in the school buildings and especially in the oldest ones with various written requests and with appointments we had with both the Deputy Mayor and the Mayor. We have not received any specific answer. They say that they have checked most of the buildings, that they always go where they are called. We don’t want them coming later. Today we are in tomorrow, he should have been here yesterday. Don’t cause damage because anything could have been done,” said Mr. Bekos and added that when a similar incident occurs, parents from ten other schools are also concerned and contacted. “They inform us that they had asked for work to be done. It is not the only school that has problems. We have given a document on various issues of the schools”, he noted.

The building needs maintenance every year- It was a random event

The Principal of the school, Ms. Dionysia Massiou, was particularly worried about the incident that happened in the 18th Board of Education, who emphasized that there were no signs that there was a problem. “The maintenance had been done, the particular problem that occurred didn’t show any signs of cracks or anything that would make us suspect any plaster falls or anything. It was in our view a fortuitous event. Now what is due is the responsibility of the Municipality’s engineers to estimate. However, at the point where the fall occurred, there was nothing that made us suspect that there would be a fall,” she said.

Yesterday, the Director pointed out that they were checking the whole building to identify if there are any other problem areas. “Obviously they don’t exist in the classrooms, they exist in the associations. In the building there are two other wings, which were built later and there are the compounds. I can’t make an estimate, I don’t have the proper knowledge. The whole thing is being scrutinized right now,” he added.

She emphasized that the building needs maintenance every year and underlined that “and our position is that a team of engineers from the Municipality should come every year, to carry out inspections and in exceptional cases during the year, when obvious problems arise . In this particular case the problem was not obvious, there was no crack” while he pointed out that there were no students inside when the plaster fell.

Ms. Massiou pointed out that as soon as the incident happened, all the prescribed measures were taken. “We isolated the room, removed the children, collected the bags and gave them to the students. They had exercise and entered the Gym room for the last hour. The place was locked and secured,” said the Director.

To check the teaching fees every year

On the same wavelength, the Director of the 29th Board of Directors of Volos, Mr. Gerasimos Tsimploulis, stressing that “all the necessary measures were taken after the incident to protect the students. It is definitely a school that needs maintenance because the first building is after the earthquakes of 1955. We as Directors have written many times to the municipal authority that substantial interventions must be made in the building and we hope that the event will be the occasion to do what needs to be done to make a building that meets modern needs”. He added that the interventions in the summer by the Municipality were some painting.

“Teachings should be checked every year and a card should be filled out. As we check the burner in our house, we should be checked and given a card so we know where the check was done. The responsibilities belong to those who are responsible for the operation of our faculties”, concluded Mr. Tsimploulis.

It is noted that the parents emphasized that most of the roof has not been insulated, while various corrosion spots are evident both inside and outside the school.

President of the Volos Parents Association: “And other schools with problems – We have not received answers from the Municipality”
Great disruption in the school community

A great disturbance has arisen in the school community of the 18th Primary School of Volos, after plasters fell inside the hall on Monday, which almost hit students and a teacher. The parents were at the school yesterday, Tuesday morning, they asked that it not work for the next few days and that a full check be done, while the technical services of the Municipality went to the school yesterday and checked every room. In the meantime, the falling of the plaster in the said school highlights the major issue of the maintenance of the school classrooms, the majority of which are given a simple painting in the summer, as was done in the 18th Board last summer. In fact, the Parents’ Association of the Municipality of Volos talks about many schools that are facing maintenance problems.