School absenteeism affects twelve per cent of students studying in one of the thirty-six publicly owned schools in Santa Cruz. In other words, the Tenerife capital has a total of 19,506 students in the thirty-six centres under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education in Santa Cruz. Out of these 19,506, a total of 2,476 are considered absentee, according to the report commissioned by the municipal Education department led by Charín González.
The first issue addressed was the constitution of the members of the Municipal School Council, at which point the proposal for the sessions of the same was also agreed upon. Other administrative matters were also addressed, such as the need to have a list of candidates for the appointment of two people of recognized citizen prestige to represent the cultural, scientific, intellectual, and sports worlds, for the purpose of their appointment as members of the Council.
Subsequently, the conclusions of the Report of the School Absenteeism Prevention, Detection, and Care Service were reported, where a detailed report on the care provided throughout the 2023/2024 school year was presented. Both municipal and district data reflect that “the current percentage of absentee students assisted throughout the school year in Santa Cruz de Tenerife amounts to 12.69 per cent, that is, 2,476 cases, among a population of 19,506 students enrolled in the municipality”, a trend that has been common in recent years according to the councilwoman responsible for the area.
Within that 12.69%, students residing in the municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife who attend classes in other municipalities such as La Laguna, Candelaria, Tacoronte, among others, have not been included, “because it is not part of the sample of schools in the municipality, although it should be noted that the number of such cases amounts to 377, with the added information that two minors are not enrolled in school,” explains the councilwoman.
“Continuing along the same lines – argues the service – and analyzing the total number of reported and therefore assisted cases, it is observed that in the current academic year, the Anaga district stands out above the rest in terms of the number of cases, with a percentage of 20.61%; Salud-Las Salle presents an absenteeism rate of 17.61%; followed by the Southwest and Ofra-Costa Sur districts, with rates of 15.26% and 12.89% respectively, while Centro-Ifara presents a percentage of 2.79% during this academic year”.
In this section, it is noted that “once the closing criteria have been evaluated and established, the School Absenteeism Service currently has 1,455 cases open, so the total percentage of open files for absentee students in the municipality amounts to 6.47%”, details Charín González based on the report from the Service in question.
Extracurricular activities
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In the extracurricular activities section, both educational and sports-related, it was noted that “a total of 31 schools are currently involved in educational activities, with 659 students benefitting from them, of which 332 are boys and 327 are girls”, explains González, who mentions that “these activities include emotional education, study techniques and strategies, educational reinforcement, guidance and follow-up, as well as a specific space for creativity and awareness of International Days.
Regarding sports activities, it was reported that a total of 30 educational centres participate, with a total of 862 students, of which 455 are boys and 407 are girls, and the councilwoman emphasizes that “these activities also promote emotional education, multi-sporting activities, healthy lifestyle habits, creativity and awareness, as well as the celebration of different International Days”.
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To conclude, the Municipal School Council was informed by the councilwoman and the technical team of “the need to create a series of working groups to, for example, address the educational project that will be developed by the council for the 2024/2025 academic year”, and, finally, Charín González insisted on “the need to have this technical working group, specifically regarding the early reception programme, to which the majority of schools will be invited to assess the need and value of the service, which currently assists a thousand students from 28 public educational centres in the capital”.
