The will to attend to students with special educational needs is "indisputable" and "the increase in staff and funding is a real fact", said the Minister of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Poli Suárez, in the corresponding Committee of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, which met this Friday.
Thus, Suárez detailed that "his department's budget in this area has grown by 61.5% since 2023, the last of the previous legislature, while the current number of assistants hired through the General Directorate of Planning of Education, Inclusion and Innovation reaches 1,278 (compared to 998 in the 2022/2023 academic year), to which are added another 200 dependent on the General Technical Secretariat (SGT)".
In addition, the Minister added to these figures other improvements, such as the extension of the permanence of students of Adapted Vocational Training (FP) from 23 to 33 years, an experience that, like the NEAE+21 program, 2pioneer at the state level and with a pilot character, facilitates the inclusion of people with disabilities in the world of work".
And all this, in a context marked by the increase in students with educational needs, 1,700 more students than last year, in order to reach "where we can reach" and with the "problem" that "in the non-capital islands, we do not find staff", shared with previous teams and the staff of the Ministry, to whom he recognized "the work and involvement".
Other actions
Poli Suárez recalled that "the Ministry articulates other resources, strategies, programs, projects and measures to promote inclusive and quality educational care for students with disabilities that require collaboration between different areas".
Among them, the improvement of the distribution and organization of personal resources for early detection, identification, detection of needs and intervention; the inclusion project for students with autism spectrum disorders, the territorial cooperation programs (PCT), such as the Territorial Cooperation Program for Guidance, Advancement and Educational Enrichment PROA+, aimed at supporting and reinforcing students in conditions of educational disadvantage associated with the environment and generalized learning difficulties, and in which 135 centers currently participate.
Also the Territorial Cooperation Program for Inclusive Education, which pursues objectives such as updating and adjusting the measures of attention to diversity, which guarantee inclusive education from the early educational stages, organizing the resources of the center and generating more efficient support in ordinary contexts, or promoting the improvement of the educational projects of public educational centers of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands to promote an inclusive model of attention to diversity, equity and successful educational results, guaranteeing adequate accessibility to educational environments and the curriculum.
Suárez also referred to measures such as educational intervention through curriculum adaptations, the adaptation to each case of the opinion of the most appropriate schooling modality or the Nursing Program in the school environment, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, as well as the training platform for families "En familia" and the training actions for teachers, something in which there is "much to go", although "steps" are being taken, as in the area of academic and professional guidance.
Finally, the Minister highlighted initiatives such as the "Let's Talk About Inclusion" conferences, organized by the Ministry together with the CajaCanarias Foundation and which, throughout the next 13, 14 and 15 March, will include workshops, exhibitions, presentations, round tables and interventions, "valuable spaces for reflection and accompaniment" where, among other issues, the announced change of regulations on special educational needs will be addressed.