The Minister of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary IslandsManuela Armas, recognizes the difficulties that it can cause for the University of La Laguna (ULL) the change of schedules so that classes begin at ten in the morning. The proposal made by the president of the Cabildo de TenerifePedro Martín, to increase funding for those faculties that agree to delay the start of classes by two hours in order to try to decongest traffic on the TF-5 It has generated a barrage of conflicting opinions and it does not seem that an agreement will be reached anytime soon. The practical majority of The faculties have already shown their refusaland only the degree of Medicine has opened the door to delay the start of classes for the first three years of the degree until ten o’clock.
The Minister of Education recalled that public administrations “have the responsibility of establishing the ideal conditions so that users, in this case of the northern Tenerife motorway, do not find it so difficult to get to their job.” Therefore, she made an appeal for, “Together, find the best solution”. And that is what the Council of Tenerife is trying to do, in the opinion of the Minister of Education.
However, he stressed the need to accompany this proposal for a delay in the start of teaching with other measures. “And I know that the Cabildo also works in that sense,” he concluded. “New routes and new infrastructures are being studied because all that could also be improved,” recalled the counselor, who did not want to go into assessing the suitability of the recent proposal made by Pedro Martín to the ULL; However, she ventured that “I don’t know if this measure by the University would solve the problem of traffic jams.”
In this sense, he recognized the problems that the change of schedules can bring about for the ULL since, as the deans of the different faculties have explained, many degrees are currently organized with morning and afternoon schedules and, if the start of classes is delayed by two hours -from eight to ten in the morning-, the two shifts would overlap. “I think that first an exhaustive study would have to be carried out on the current study schedules, to find out in which faculties the change could be made”, explained the counselor who emphasized the need to implement a whole battery of measures that Follow the actions that the University could implement to improve circulation on the TF-5 motorway. “This should not be the only measure, this is only complementary and eventual,” said the counselor, who insisted that it is necessary to solve “by all means” this problem for which different alternatives are already being considered, but concluded: ” A highway is not built from today to tomorrow”.
“Disrespect”
The candidate to occupy the position of rector of the University of La Laguna (ULL), Francisco Garcia, considers “a lack of institutional respect to give money” in exchange for the delay in the start of classes since “it is a measure that we could agree on our own initiative because it is part of our university idiosyncrasy.” “It rains, it pours on this issue,” recalls the candidate who sees it as difficult to achieve a change in schedules.
«This has been proposed before and studies have been carried out, but the degrees that are most in demand and that, therefore, could contribute to a significant reduction in traffic, such as Education in Economics, Business and Tourism, Law or Psychology, are precisely the careers that They have morning and afternoon shiftTherefore, the change is not viable”, said the professor of Business Organization. However, the professor recognized that the ULL can provide solutions to the traffic problem.
“We can provide research. For that we have the Chair of Economy and Mobilitywhich can provide a rigorous analysis on the subject and which, furthermore, is at the forefront of research on this subject”, explained García, who encouraged work in this direction because, he concluded, “I am pessimistic regarding the change in schedules because there we have little room for work ».
