He City Hall of La Victoria de Acentejo has obtained a grant of 467,000 euros from European funds Next Generation to be able to finish the municipal nursery school 42 years after the laying of the first stone. Mayor, Juan Antonio Garcia Abreu (PSOE)celebrates the arrival of these funds through the Department of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands, which grants this direct subsidy to the city council to finish the work of this first-cycle municipal school for early childhood education, with 78 places, “within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Planfunded by the European Union.
“Those who know me or are getting to know me know that I don’t like to sell smoke. Normally I am very prudent in my statements and I talk about investments when they are signed. As is the case of the infant school. This grant will allow the completion of a work whose first stone was laid 42 years ago. Now, and after working together with the Government of the Canary Islands which is chaired by Ángel Victor Torres, it will finally be finished and that is what is really important”, emphasizes the mayor.
One of the last key steps to be able to finish the nursery took place in January 2020, when the Consistory closed, for 400,000 eurosthe agreement that guaranteed the municipal ownership of the building where the future nursery school of the Santo Domingo neighborhood.
The history of this nursery began in 1981 with the laying of the first stone of the property. A building that could have been lost for “not executing the construction of the infant school included in the agreement signed in 2002 with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Nursery School Association”. In that document, the private entity accepted the transfer of the land it owned and in return would obtain the use of one of the floors of the property, on which the nursery would be built. The agreement included that if in 2017, once the deadline has expired, the Victorious Council did not complete this work, the entire building would become its property.
In 2020, the loss of ownership of the property was avoided
The agreement they reached in 2020 with the association, “after intense negotiations”implied the waiver of the right of reversion established by the agreement, which made it possible to guarantee that the Consistory did not lose ownership of the Santo Domingo building.
This educational resource is essential for a town that has more than 260 boys and girls between the ages of zero and three. Abreu then recalled that La Victoria was “the fourth municipality in Tenerife that lacks a kindergarten with the largest number of minors without a place.”
The property where the nursery school will be set up has 2,798 square meters distributed in four staggered levels. At street level the square rises and the cultural center of Santo Domingowhile the first one below ground level is intended for the nursery, which will have an area of 1,104 square meters.
Juan Antonio Garcia Abreu he remembers that the first stone of the nursery was laid two years before he was born, so he hopes to be able to solve this historical problem as soon as possible, “once the work can be put out to tender in order to finally cover education from 0 to 3 years in our municipality.”