When Ignacio Rodríguez made the decision in 1998 that the City Council would pay for the 3,700 textbooks for the 1,200 local students, he was not aware that it would create a trend.
25 years ago, the Municipality of La Matanza de Acentejo made a pioneering decision in Spain: to buy the books text to all primary and secondary students in the municipality and distribute them free of charge. Approximately 1,200 students from the two schools and from the local institute benefited each year, receiving 3,700 books in which the City Council invested some 60,000 euros, ten million of the old pesetas. The mayor, Ignacio Rodríguez (PSOE), made this decision without being aware that it would create a trend and many more administrations would later follow that example.
That project was called Solidarity and Progress 1998-2002, and had the support of the Tenerife Island Federation of Student Parent Associations (Fitapa). The measure of giving free books to all Matanzas students placed La Matanza “on the national map of educational milestones”, according to the local government. Ignacio Rodríguez had already been mayor since 1983 and when he made that decision “it was not an adventure or coup de effect, but the manifestation of a real commitment to equal opportunities, to guarantee that access to education could not be limited nor conditioned by economic reasons».
The delivery of the books implied the commitment of the schoolchildren to take care of the material, which would be passed on to other schoolchildren in successive courses, “which also meant an exercise of responsibility and respect that was carried out diligently by the children year after year.” The measure was developed through an economic allocation per student that was delivered to the educational centers, later destined to the acquisition of other school materials and the replacement of books that were damaged.
«The support of families, the educational community and society was unanimous, triggering a process that would gradually make other public administrations also commit to free books»they remember from the socialist government of Matanzas.
In the year that marks the 25th anniversary of that initiative, the mayor values it as “as daring as it is necessary” and adds that “it was something brave that could disturb those who really had responsibilities in the matter. A challenge that from our modest position we were very clear about. Time proved us right and we showed that with will and determination it could be done, as is now also the case with free public transport. This initiative, along with others that we have adopted over the years, paved the way for many families and students, placing the weight of their achievements on their effort and abilities, and not exclusively on financial resources.
This has been the star measure of the educational policies of La Matanza since 1998, which has benefited several generations of students from the CEIP Acentejo and Atalaya and the IES La Matanza, along with other additional annual subsidies for the replacement of educational material. This municipal implication has required a significant investment effort, with years in which the northern Consistory alone assumed the purchase of more than 1,100 copies of different textbooks.
Fitapa sources also recall the efforts made to ensure that textbooks reached all schoolchildren free of charge and stresses that President Grete Mollo, recently deceased, was one of the most avant-garde presidents of our federation. The excellent management of the mayor still today made teaching more universal than ever. When this measure begins to be applauded today by some corporations, the municipality of La Matanza de Acentejo was clear about it from minute one and until today.”
Fitapa, currently chaired by Manuel Delgado, «commits to the philosophy of doing for and for the educational quality of our sons and daughters. Being generators of actions and projects, participatory and supporting the study in all its areas. Believing in the consensus of the entire educational community and supporting where our participation is needed. The only patrimony on the rise is education and that is why we are working. From the respect and awareness that the Ampas are necessary in all educational centers, promoting their management and supporting them in a close and professional way.
La Matanza, with just 9,000 inhabitants and a municipal budget of around 12 million euros per year, has been able to maintain itself in a leading position in support of free public education since the late 1990s. From kindergarten to university. 25 years ago it became the first City Council in Spain to give free books to all students in its public schools. It opened the first nursery school in the region, 25 years ago; rewards the best academic records since 2011; finances transportation for undergraduate and graduate students; it offers free school support to more than 220 boys and girls each course, and has not stopped investing in model educational facilities such as the Study Center and Library or in the energy supply with solar panels for all its educational centers.
La Matanza has become in recent decades an example to follow in educational policies due to other innovative initiatives such as the Child Care Centers (CAI), which work in coordination with the local educational centers and offer “education in values, socialization health and free educational support. This is another “pioneering, free, supervised by professionals and with a presence in all neighbourhoods” service, where between 200 and 250 boys and girls are served each course. The CAI facilitate family and work conciliation in the afternoon, as well as helping to reduce inequalities in a key issue such as support classes outside school hours. A tool so that “personal development and success in studies is based on the intellectual capacities of each one and not on the economic conditions and barriers of families.”
