Unbelievable: due to the cold, the teachers' union in Córdoba is demanding that classes be suspended

The Capital delegation of UEPC has once again pressured for the suspension of classes due to the cold. Instead of seeking solutions, the union suggests paralyzing education in Córdoba. The building problem is real, but so is the lack of commitment to the school calendar, which is often seen more as a bargaining excuse than as a formative priority.

Franco Boczkowski, the union's general secretary, said that "in this situation of extreme cold wave, we consider it unreasonable to require schools to remain open without the necessary conditions." The diagnosis points to institutions without heating or infrastructure, but the proposed solution is once again to close classrooms. UEPC repeats the same script as always: when faced with a problem, activity is stopped instead of seeking ways to sustain it.

Schedule changes, partial suspensions, and general disorganization have ended up affecting families. While most workers attend their jobs despite the cold, in the education union, the opposite logic seems to prevail: everything is paralyzed. The cold is not new, but what is old is a school model without preventive planning or shared responsibility.

For years, the province has boasted about inclusion, but keeps broken boilers, shattered windows, and container classrooms that were meant to be temporary but became permanent. The school budget covers superficial repairs that do not solve the lack of heating or improve insulation. This chronic inefficiency highlights the urgency of measures that ensure projects with verifiable deadlines and quality.

UEPC's statement: warning or pressure mechanism

The union announced that the Ministry authorized total or partial suspensions depending on what each institution decides. The only mandatory activity at the secondary level will be the exam sessions, according to the education department. This time, the cold serves as an excuse, but the pattern is identical: when faced with any difficulty, the immediate response is to halt the system.

Additionally, the education department reported that absences would not be counted this Monday the 30th. The decision leaves it up to families to decide whether or not to send students, but also transfers uncertainty to them. Without guaranteed classes, heating, or safe transportation in all cases, it is often parents who end up resolving what the State and unions should have anticipated together.

UEPC says it will maintain oversight and asks its members to report schools in poor condition. However, the union has been part of the same system that allowed hundreds of schools to reach winter without basic conditions. Neither the province nor the union can ignore the deterioration, but suspending classes is nothing more than an easy way out of a structural problem that requires more management and fewer complaints.

Structural deficits and loss of meaning of the school function

That there are schools with broken heaters or open windows should not be surprising in a province where educational investment is often disguised with announcements and patches. Poor infrastructure is not exclusive to the cold: it recurs with every rain or when there is no water. However, it is not a sufficient justification to once again give up the essential objective of the system: to teach.

The union secretary stated that "the pedagogical function is set aside," as if it were natural to prioritize other things. What function remains when a school is closed? UEPC seeks the solution in the suspension of teaching due to the poor heating conditions in some schools.

In other provinces, classes continue with active monitoring instead of imposing general suspensions. There, the focus is on adapting to the context and ensuring pedagogical continuity without putting education on hold. Córdoba, meanwhile, once again chooses the shortcut: classes are suspended first and alternatives are analyzed later.

A missed opportunity to change the logic

Each cold wave is a thermometer that measures the level of commitment of those who must ensure the functioning of schools. Neither the State nor the unions can use the weather as an excuse to justify the lack of planning and investment. Suspension must always be the last resort and not an automatic option in the face of any seasonal problem.

The solution is not to choose between cold classrooms or closed schools, but to apply criteria and strategies that avoid both extremes. Closing out of habit reveals more comfort than vocation for teaching, something that education leaders should review. Each day without classes can't be compensated with speeches or promises of later recovery.