– Pupils have gone here for all seven years and really just waited for a new school, says Lene Rønning-Arnesen. She is the principal at Trosterud School in Oslo. They are queuing to get a new school. A queue they have been standing in for a long time. – We are in a limbo after all. So we just have to make sure we make a good school every day, every year, with what we have, says Rønning-Arnesen. Until the new school is ready, the first class will go into barracks. Each new litter starts there, before they go into the school building. Trosterud principal Lene Rønning-Arnesen thinks it is frustrating that they do not know when they will get a new school. The plans have been postponed several times. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news “Get back to the start” The plan is for them to get a new school in 2028. But they have been pushed back earlier. And maybe the fact that they have been given barracks and a few coats of paint can move them to the back of the queue? – You can’t really know that, but it can look that way. Or, one can suspect that it is the reality. A suspicion that agrees with Marius Chramer’s impression. He heads the national parents’ committee for basic education (Fug), and believes the situation is the same across the country. – Getting a barracks can be a “move back to the start” card in Monopoly. The waiting time for a new school is only getting longer, he says. The first-class barracks at Trosterud have an artificial grass pitch as their nearest neighbour. The barracks are full of rubber granules from the track. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news The Oslo municipality rejects this: – It is not the case that the establishment of pavilions means that rehabilitation or new buildings are delayed, says section leader Åsta Llanos-Ytre in the department for school facilities. Which emphasizes that the same requirements are placed on the temporary buildings as on normal school buildings. Lack of outdoor area For many schools, the barracks, or pavilions, are an upgrade. As at Ellingsrud, where both pupils and teachers last year rejoiced at being moved to barracks after over twenty years of poor indoor climate. Or at Trosterud – where the first class has the most modern classrooms in the whole school. But they do not have their own outdoor areas. – We play on the football pitch, or in the schoolyard, says first-grader Ada Lystad Eng-Larsen. Ada Lystad Eng-Larsen thrives in barracks. But would have liked to have more toys. The dream: – Norway’s longest slide, perhaps! Photo: Bård Nafstad / news The artificial grass track right next to it is shared by the Trosterud students both with sports teams and with the neighboring school. When they are not playing there, they have to be accompanied to the school yard, about 50 meters away. There, over 400 pupils have a few swings and a play stand to share. They fill up quickly. But some of the big children are good and let the first graders play instead of them, explains Ada. She likes the toys they have, but would like to have her own play equipment for first grade. – Yes. I thought that was how it was at school, she says. This one piece of play equipment is the only thing the students at Trosterud have. Because the school will be demolished and a new one built, they will not be able to upgrade the outdoor area, according to the headmaster. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news Headmaster Lene Rønning-Arnesen feels that the desire for new play stands or other upgrades is met with “you’re going to be demolished anyway.” At the same time, they don’t know when it will actually happen. – And it’s a frustrating situation to be in. Barkke stood for 65 years Around three kilometers to the north-east is Østensjø school. The old, venerable school was given a so-called “temporary pavilion” in 1953, in order to accommodate the large cohorts of young people after the war. It was still there when Marit Walløe started school around ten years later. And when she became a teacher there as an adult. She still was when the pavilion was finally demolished and driven away in 2018. After 65 years in the school’s service. – I think we have the Oslo record, at least, in temporary construction, says Walløe. Marit Walløe in front of the new building that came up in 2021. She managed to catch on to the fact that the temporary building was demolished and the new one went up. In the temporary school pavilion, she herself was a pupil as a child, and also taught there for around 30 years. Photo: Jenny Dahl Bakken / news The pavilion on Østensjø was without ventilation and did so until the early 2000s, when it was refurbished. – And it seems to us that it was completely hopeless, because we want a new building there, says Walløe. Instead, the pavilion stood for over 15 more years. – It would have been interesting to get the municipalities’ definition on a temporary basis, says Fug leader Marius Chramer. For Østensjø is not the only school where temporary buildings remain standing for a long time: Årvoll School The so-called “school barrack” at Årvoll School in Oslo stood for over 50 years – from 1962 to 2014. The school also got a new, “temporary pavilion” in 2004 which stood for about. ten years. Both of these were replaced by permanent buildings. From the autumn of 2022, Årvoll will have a new “temporary pavilion”, which will stand at least until 2026. Lunde school Lunde school in Fredrikstad has had barracks for 22 years. The local newspaper Fredrikstad Blad has revealed that the condition of the The last few years have been so bad that the barracks have not been approved by the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. In autumn 2022, the politicians in Fredrikstad decided to build new “temporary pavilions” in anticipation of the construction of a new school. Klemetsrud school Klemetsrud school in the south-east of Oslo has two “temporary pavilions”, one from 1967 and one from 1997. In practice, they are experienced as permanent buildings at the school, according to the headmaster. The main building is protected. But the pavilions are planned to be demolished and replaced with permanent buildings. During the construction phase, a new “temporary pavilion” will be used. Solneset School Solneset School in Tromsø was too small when it was completed in 1998. Therefore, two years later a “temporary pavilion” was built. The pavilion stood until the school finally was expanded in 2018. According to the newspaper Nordlys, the school pavilion was never approved as a permanent teaching building. Adult school At the Adult school in Oslo, when the school started in 1982, Moelven barracks were set up which remained until 2014 – for over 30 years. A temporary building to house special classes stood from 1997 to 2014. Then the school got a so-called supercube – a permanent modular building. – An exception In Oslo, examples such as Østensjø are the exception, according to the municipality. – As a general rule, permanent needs in schools must be met with permanent capacity, says Llanos-Ytre in the municipality. On average, “temporary pavilions” stand for 5-6 years. But sometimes the need comes faster than the time it takes to build or rehabilitate. – Pavilions will then be established to ensure school capacity. Schools fall into disrepair Chramer and the Parents’ Committee call it a kind of firefighting: Most Norwegian schools were built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, according to a report from Multiconsult. The schools built at this time are the ones that are in the worst condition now. In total, around 40 per cent of all Norwegian schools have a major need for upgrades within ten years, or are approaching replacement. The result is that very many schools stand and fall into disrepair at the same time. Then only what needs to be done quickly will be done, Chramer believes. This is also Marit Walløe’s experience after several decades in the Oslo School. – It seems that something drastic must happen before things speed up. Asbestos or mold in classrooms. That the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority issues daily fines. – And we at the schools are quite good at working under rather bad conditions, I would say. We make the best of it, and complain little, says Walløe. Marit Walløe was both student and teacher in the pavilion that stood on Østensjø for 65 years. She believes upgrading old schools is being given a lower priority. Photo: Jenny Dahl Bakken / news Renovating a charity A round among the principals in Oslo shows that there are many schools that need to be fixed up. And that where something is done, it is often only one thing at a time. The feeling that every thing that is done pushes them backwards in the queue for the next thing that needs to be fixed, some of the principals know: For example, the principal at Lambertseter school, which has had rehabilitation postponed several times: “The school is now being painted so that it doesn’t look completely looks discouraging, but I’m not sure if they’ll wait for the rehabilitation again.” rehabilitation was pushed back by nine years after some doors were reversed, new heat pumps and fire alarms were added. The employees go to great lengths to make the best of what they have. Former Østensjø teacher Marit Walløe recognizes herself. There, the old dining hall has been converted into a library. The furniture, books and shelves have been used. – She, who is there now, spends a lot of time making things nice there. With own funds. So we sort of run private things here, she says. – Almost like a charity? – Yes, you are absolutely right. That is the right word. Being a teacher in the Oslo school is quite a lot of hard work.
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Six-year-olds go to Trosterud school in barracks
