The mayor of Arafo, Juan Ramón Martín, is a professor of Geography and History at the IES Magallanes de Granadilla, after obtaining that position by competitive examination and teaching in the afternoons. He has it clear: “Geography and History of the Canary Islands is fundamental for the students who study in this land, and basically what the Government has done is suppress it, leaving it as an optional subject in the Third Year of ESO, when it should be compulsory and with more hours”.
Remember that “until now we give only one hour a week and I always advocated giving two or three to be able to develop a syllabus and for it to fit into the curricular model. Basically what they have done now is suppress it.”
Martín, given the widespread rejection among teachers and various political parties, asks the Ministry of Education to “reconsider and value keeping the subject as compulsory, because, otherwise, it will become a Maria subject, because when competing between the electives with Initiation to Economics and Entrepreneurship, students will prefer this, as is already the case today between 80-85% of students, who pass it more easily. And I know because I have had to teach that subject”.
He also appreciates that, after the controversy generated by the withdrawal of Philosophy, this subject remains compulsory in the fourth year of ESO, “what I do not understand is that it is to the detriment of Geography and History of the Canary Islands”, a very important area to “know the territory where we live, its history, its culture, its traditions”, explained Martín, a lover of everything that is tradition, as he has shown in his political stage in his native Arafo.
