About thirty students from various parts of Spain toured Tenerife last week, thanks to an educational innovation project of the Ministry of Education, which deals with the Santiago’s road and which had, as its first stop, Santiago del Teide, while it will continue in May through Murcia and, that same month of 2024, it will continue through Almería and end up visiting Orense until it reaches Santiago de Compostela.
Four Secondary schools chosen at the national level participate in the project and one of them is the IES Tomás de Iriarte, Ofra, while the other three are from Murcia, Almería and Orense. A Camino de Santiago full of life is the name of this action, whose main objective is to promote among students more sustainable education models based on cooperation, respect, and understanding of nature and different cultures.
The more than 60 students participating in the project will carry out volunteer activities and environmental education throughout the two years in which this initiative will be developed, during which each one of the centers will visit the rest of the participating institutes.
For Dácil López Práxedes, a Biology professor and also a member of the team participating in the project, the reason for using the Camino de Santiago is “its rich heritage, from the cultural, historical, ecological and natural points of view.” In addition, López assured yesterday in Onda Tenerife that “the trip itself is a formative element that offers the opportunity to experiment and do science through a school reality that is more connected with the environment and finding a practical and significant application of what has been learned”.
The first stop of this project was Santiago del Teide, where the students of IES Tomás de Iriarte acted as hosts for groups of students from the three centers in Almería, Murcia and Ourense.
According to López, “one of our objectives is also to give visibility to the Camino de Santiago de Tenerife, since it is not known, although we know that different public institutions have been working on it for some time.” “They have showered us with attention, both the mayor and the councilor,” thanked Dácil López.
In addition to the activities scheduled in this municipality, the students visited the Adelantado forest in La Esperanza, Teide and Almáciga beach. “The peninsular students were delighted, above all, by the great diversity of the Island,” said the teacher.