VALVERDE (EL HIERRO), Sep 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, inaugurated the 2021-22 school year at IES Garoé this Friday and indicated that, “although the situation continues to be a pandemic and schoolchildren will continue to wear a mask because it is mandatory in closed spaces, it opens up hope that it will be completely different from the 2020-21 academic year “.
The president recalled that, at the end of last July and the beginning of August, the Canary Islands registered almost a thousand daily cases of COVID, while now the situation has improved to much lower figures “because there is something that did not exist in the beginning. from the previous year, vaccines “.
Torres highlighted what was achieved in the previous year because, despite the “tremendous difficulties” due to the pandemic, it could be developed without major shocks or alterations.
The president stressed that the Government is making every effort to improve infrastructures and that this year this translates into the opening of four new centers: two in Lanzarote and another two in Fuerteventura, for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education, with almost 18 million investment.
He also referred to the other 10 million euros allocated to different improvements in centers, and stressed that the EU “has learned that solidarity is fundamental and, therefore, there are 50 million for education in the Canary Islands, to bet on the new technologies, by digitization, by reaching the most remote places, the municipalities that are depopulated and islands that, like El Hierro, suffer from a triple insularity “.
In total, 246,572 students from public and subsidized schools in the archipelago are incorporated into the classrooms in these two days.
During the meeting, the Minister of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports, Manuela Armas, accompanied by the president of the El Hierro Council, Alpidio Armas; the mayor of Valverde, Antonio Chinea; the director of IES Garoé, Manuel Domínguez, and members of the management team of the educational department, indicated that in this third educational period “mediated by the pandemic”, everyone comes “with a backpack full of illusion, challenges and expectations.”
The head of the department explained that the prevention and organization protocol in educational centers against the virus is maintained compared to last year.
Thus, in Infant and Primary, the Stable Coexistence Groups, known as bubble groups, will continue to be in force, and in Secondary, Baccalaureate, FP and other teachings the safety distance between students will continue to be applied, which experiences a slight reduction of 1.5 at 1.2 meters.
For all educational levels, the use of a mask (from 6 years old), hand hygiene and other personal prevention measures, cleaning and ventilation of spaces or the use of signage in the different spaces will be mandatory.
Those Primary and Secondary students who due to health problems cannot regularly attend their educational centers in person will continue their training through the Online Learning Center (CEL).
THE WORKFORCE INCREASES BY 2,674 TEACHERS
The Canarian Executive faces this new school period with an increase in the workforce by 2,674 teachers, 1,658 hired as reinforcement personnel against COVID and 1,016 to improve attention to the diversity of students, which means 690 more professionals in this field than last year. Of these 1,016, about 500 are permanently incorporated.
Subaltern personnel will also be strengthened with a score of additions and the auxiliary of complementary services with some 400 hires, as well as disinfection and cleaning tasks in educational centers, a measure that represented a total expenditure of 34 million euros in 2020-21. euros; that is, 11 million euros more than in courses not affected by COVID.
Regarding the number of students, the ratio goes from 35 to 30 in Baccalaureate, from 30 to 27 in Compulsory Secondary Education (progressively from 1st grade), and from 15 to 12 in Basic Vocational Training. The mixed groups are eliminated in the last cycle of Primary Education and the ratios of the mixed groups in the rest of this educational stage fall from 23 to 20.
By 2021, the education department has 14.9 million euros to serve almost 40,000 girls and boys who have subsidized the school canteen in the different aid tranches.
Of this group, 14,928 are zero quotas (they do not pay anything for the service due to their scarce economic resources). In addition, with this budget, school breakfast is offered to 14,265 male and female students.
For the same year, the budget contemplates a total of 8.1 million euros for the Textbooks and Didactic Material program, from which 64,521 students initially benefit in the 2021/22 academic year.
In addition, four new educational centers come into operation in this course, two of them in Lanzarote (IES Haría and CEO Playa Blanca) and another two in Fuerteventura (CEIP in Barranco del Ciervo and CEIP Villaverde).
These educational infrastructures have involved a total investment of about 17 million euros and cover 2,010 school places.
EXPANSION OF THE VET OFFER
Among the educational measures for the next academic year, the expansion and diversification of the offer of Vocational Training courses stands out (with 123 new groups and the increase in the network of centers).
The Executive makes a firm commitment to these professional studies through different actions such as the reinforcement of Dual Vocational Training and bilingual education, the implementation of specialization courses, the setting up of applied technology and entrepreneurship classrooms, and training actions in digitization applied to productive sectors aimed at teachers, among others.
Likewise, new measures are implemented aimed at reinforcing attention to the diversity of students.
The esTEla Program will facilitate the transition between educational stages in more than 60 educational districts and the Program for Orientation, Advancement and Educational Enrichment (PROA +) will improve the learning of students in vulnerable conditions in 171 educational centers.
In addition, new Guidance and Counseling Units are created made up of 32 professionals to attend to students and families at risk of social exclusion and with assistance needs, and 14 new Enclave Classrooms for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and the staff from the Special Education Centers, specifically the Therapeutic Psychopedagogy and Hearing and Language teachers, among other actions.
Within the framework of the Territorial Cooperation Program for the digitization of the education system, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, a central element of Next Generation EU, Education will manage 50.17 million euros to provide students with mobile devices and connectivity (€ 7.72 million), the installation and maintenance of Interactive Digital Classrooms (€ 41.49 million), and the technical training of teachers (€ 957,661) in this area.
Likewise, during the next academic year, the Plan for digital education in the Canary Islands in the 21st century will continue to be implemented (endowed with 11.4 million euros).
In addition, the budget of the Ministry of Education for school transport for the year 2021 is about 40 million euros.
This service, which supposes an average cost of 778 euros per student and course, comprises 1,409 routes in the current school year, covers 553 centers and benefits 31,926 students, and will restart on Monday normally after the agreement reached with transport entrepreneurs.
