The new school year 2024/2025 will start in Canary Islands with the opening of six new school centres. These new infrastructures open their doors thanks to an investment of 25 million Euros by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, which plans to inaugurate the Secondary Education Centres El Castillo (Fuerteventura), Agáldar (Gran Canaria), and the Special Education Centres of Santa Lucía, Adeje, Icod de los Vinos, and the Integrated Vocational Training Centre (CIFP) Adeje. Additionally, as explained by the Education Councillor Poli Suárez, there is a plan for urgent educational infrastructure in the south of Tenerife, foreseen for the coming years with an investment of 77 million Euros. In this context, the popular councillor highlights the need for state funds to continue progressing in this direction, as there are allocated up to 42 million Euros.
Continuing with the work related to responding to students with special educational needs, the Government of the Canary Islands plans to open up to three special education centres (CEE), two of them in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria. The CEE in Santa Lucía de Tirajana will relieve the classrooms of Petra Lorenzo and will also receive eight new student enrollments from this area of Gran Canaria. It will have five groups and 30 students. It will provide education in Early Childhood, Primary, and Transition to Adult Life. The students will come from CEE Petra Lorenzo, and the aim is to increase the number of groups and students as the subsequent phases of the centre’s conditioning are completed, which in the initial intervention had an investment of 200,000 Euros.
In Tenerife, a new CEE in Adeje will relieve the CEE Adeje of San Miguel and will welcome around thirty students divided into five groups with 30 students. It will also provide education in Early Childhood and Primary and include four new enrollments from students in the area, although this number will increase as the subsequent phases of the construction project are completed, with an initial cost of over 698,200 Euros. On the other hand, the CEE in Icod de los Vinos will relieve the Inés Fuentes and González de Aledo centre in Puerto de la Cruz. It will cater to 35 students and receive two new enrollments through six groups for Early Childhood, Primary, and Transition to Adult Life education. It is expected that the number of students will increase, and the approximate cost of the work carried out is 250,000 Euros.
The new CEIP El Castillo, in Fuerteventura. / La Provincia
In Tenerife, the CIFP Adeje will also open its doors from next September, a new space that will relieve the classrooms of IES Adeje and IES El Galeón, where Vocational Training in Hospitality and Tourism, Informatics, Food Industries, and Commerce and Marketing will be taught. In this first course, the students will be around 350, although the Education Ministry estimates that enrollments could reach a thousand in the coming years. The construction cost of this educational centre was over 5,851,500 Euros. In this regard, the Education Councillor recalls that the southern region of Tenerife “is the hot spot of education in the Canary Islands due to the significant population growth.”
In the province of Las Palmas, the CEIP El Castillo will open its doors in September, in Antigua, where indeed the new school year in the Canary Islands is expected to be inaugurated. It is a new Infant and Primary Education Centre (six units and 12 groups) catering to around 430 students. It will relieve the CEIP Poeta Domingo Velázquez, and the construction cost of the centre was over 5,061,700 Euros.
Lastly, the IES Agáldar, in the municipality of Gáldar, Gran Canaria, will involve the relocation of the centre of the same name, the former IES Saulo Torón, to a new location with modern facilities. It will offer Secondary Compulsory Education, Baccalaureate, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Vocational Training Courses, and Medium-Level Sports Education. It will have approximately 600 students. In the case of these last two centres, the Education Councillor recalls that these have been pending projects for two legislative terms already, and despite that, the current Government had to carry out budget adjustments of four and a half million Euros to equip these new educational spaces. In all cases, Poli Suárez also stresses the importance of collaboration from various municipalities to carry out the inaugurations.
Special Education
In addition to the opening of the three special education centres planned for the next school year, the Ministry of Education is also preparing the inauguration of up to 35 new enclave classrooms in centres that are already operational. In this regard, the Education Councillor notes that in recent years there has been an increase in students with special educational needs, requiring administrations to establish suitable services for this segment. “In the past school year, cases have almost doubled, and right now there are around 4,000 students in the Canary Islands with special educational needs,” explains Suarez, who points out that to provide an adequate response to these students, interventions are necessary, especially on the non-capital islands, as so far Tenerife and Gran Canaria have received the most resources, given that the majority of students in this situation are in those areas.
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