The story of the school in Gorj, where, following the renovation of the building, the toilet bowls of the students were allegedly installed without partitions, revolted the entire public opinion the other day. The images that circulated on the Internet, with the toilets in sight, seemed hard to believe, although we are talking about Romania, a country where almost everything is possible. This case, however, exceeded any imagination, which is why I asked for details from the director of the educational unit, but also from the local mayor. The whole story, the two claim, was nothing more than fake news, a political scam, a scandal launched for electoral campaign reasons.
The sanitary group of the school is not yet completely renovated. Photo source: gorjonline.ro
More than 150 students study at secondary school no. 1 in Peștişani commune, Gorj county. We are talking about a building with a ground floor and a floor, renovated starting in 2019, through the PNDL National Local Development Program.
“We have several buildings in the yard of the institution. The high school, the middle school, two gymnasiums, the canteen, the boarding school building…we are a mini-campus, if you will”the director of the school, professor Alin Dobromirescu, told Adevărul.
General school no. 1 from Pestişani, Gorj
The building in which, starting this year, primary and secondary school students study, entered rehabilitation five years ago. “The works, which cost around 2 million lei, were greatly delayed due to the company that won the tender at the time and abandoned them. The project was subcontracted by the town hall, and this autumn we managed to complete it”, the local mayor, Cosmin Pigui, explained to us.
“We changed the destination of several rooms that we turned into toilets, we also made a medical office and a psychological office” the mayor also told us.
“On the ground floor we have toilets for students, but also for kindergarten children. Then we have disabled, girls and boys toilets. Upstairs we have the same, toilets for girls, for boys and for teachers. However, these upstairs bathrooms are not completely finished and obviously not ready for use. The students use the toilets on the ground floor, the teachers use the ones inside the high school, where the chancellery is also”, the mayor of Peștişani also specified.
The so-called open space toilets are closed. Source: Alin Dobromirescu
Although there are still some finishing touches to be made such as the installation of the door to the sanitary group on the first floor, the installation of some fire doors, the completion of the fence that surrounds the building and the painting of the facade, the school is perfectly functional. “There are still little things to do. And, if it were up to me, I would not have put the building into use until after the reception of the works. That would have meant waiting a few more weeks, but there was nowhere to keep all the children. I ran out of space. Therefore, I had to bring here, from the building where the high school operates, several classes of students”. director Dobromirescu explains the situation.
Just like the mayor, the teacher told us that the renovation works of the sanitary group located on the building’s floor, where toilets without partitions were placed, are not completed. Reason why the toilet is not functional. “The students who study upstairs, there are several middle school classes, use the toilets on the ground floor of the building. That is, until the partition panels and the door to the upstairs bathroom are installed“, says the teacher. “At this moment, that sanitary group is blocked, it is closed, the access of students is restricted. We already have the panels, we received them, as well as the door.. just have someone come and install them”.
Therefore, the buclucaş sanitary group will not remain that way. “Say that I gave the children to use TOILETS open space is totally untrue, it’s totally fake”, says the director. “Probably tomorrow (not today) we’ll bring in a team of workers to install the door and panels,” the mayor later told us.
Cosmin Pigui, the mayor of Petroșani, is of the opinion that the scandal of the open space toilets was designed with a purpose, namely to discredit him in front of the voters, now, in the middle of the election campaign. “The story of open space toilets is nothing but fake news. Nothing written is real. How can anyone imagine that we could let children use a communal toilet? To see each other? The scandal is, rather, a political one. It’s a shame, however, that the children, the school, the education are caught in the middle”.
The mayor testified that there is a person in the locality known as a “profession complaint” “We had 36 complaints at the Court of Accounts and not a single one was confirmed! I suspect who wanted us harm, but I can’t tell you because, as I said, it’s just a guess.”
Alin Dobromirescu, director of General School no. 1 from Peștișani, Gorj. Photo: own archive
The director of the school in Peștişani shows that the story, although it is not real, brings a stain to the school he leads.
“And it’s sad, because we should be more responsible. Our school is a European school, involved in all kinds of projects. We should have a common interest because, after all, we are talking about some children, about their education and their future. And we have very good children. to national assessment we had a passing percentage of almost 80%, and in the Baccalaureate from a single 12th class, over 50% passed”, the teacher also specified.
