Why are the Canary Islands the second autonomous community in Spain with the highest rate of early school leaving, only surpassed by Murcia? Teachers and the administration are clear: an economic model based on tourism and the needs of families poorer than the national average push students to look for work, and find it, sooner.
The ease of accessing a low-paying job without the need for higher education, both in tourism and hospitality, means that a significant portion of young people between 18 and 24 years old prefer to start contributing and abandon their studies: 15.9%, according to the latest data available.
A figure that has recovered after reaching its minimum in 2021 - 12%. The explanation is clear: the pandemic caused many companies to "shut down" and stop hiring, which pushed many students to continue their education.
The Vice-Minister of Education of the Canary Islands Government, José Manuel Cabrera, explains it this way to EFE: "During the pandemic, when it was more difficult to find work, it was seen that this abandonment decreased to a lower level. Now that access to work is easier, these levels are increasing."
This, he elaborates, is "easy to see in all areas where the employment rate is higher, where there is less unemployment, such as tourist areas, and where the work requested does not require such specialized training."
The president of the ANPE union, the majority union among Canary Islands teachers, Pedro Crespo, agrees, also pointing in another direction: territorial inequality and poverty.
"When there are difficulties at home, it is very difficult for the kid to focus on studying," he indicates in conversation with EFE, adding that the issue of insularity also plays an important role in these types of decisions, since not everyone can travel to the capital islands or the big cities to study what they would like.
Crespo does not hide the "concern" that the data released last week by the Ministry of Education generates for them. "We are concerned that there are 16 or 17-year-olds who are left out, and that is very bad news for them and for the future of the Canary Islands," he assures.
"Canary Islands are part of those handicaps: an economic situation that may be below the national average and implies the need to seek additional income, and everything related to the tourism sector, where access to employment is easier than normal," summarizes the Deputy Minister of Education.
How to combat school dropout in the Canary Islands?
Early academic guidance, better and greater Vocational Training that is also aligned with the real demand of the labor market, and greater work-life balance that allows those who require it to dedicate time to their studies while working. These are the three issues that are put on the table to try to combat these high rates of early school leaving that the archipelago has.
From the regional administration, they try to "promote the reincorporation" of these young people who leave education prematurely and to increase "success rates," the latter being an issue on which progress is already being made.
In the words of José Manuel Cabrera, it is "fundamental" that companies can facilitate access to training for their staff, through two channels: combining their work situation with continuing to study, and guiding them to consolidate their jobs only when the students have acquired additional training.
Likewise, he points to measures that have already been implemented and that need to be reinforced, such as school guidance, "linked to the society's culture that it is necessary to train to be able to perform a job with adequate conditions," and to promote better performance so that they do not drop out.
This is in addition to betting on Vocational Training, with an increase in the number of courses, but also to make them adapt to the labor reality.
This idea is also shared by ANPE, which advocates for a "more connected with employment" Vocational Training, something in which steps have been taken in recent times, but which needs consolidation.
But, for Crespo, all this starts from a basis that politicians, in his opinion, have not yet managed to understand: more funding is needed.
"I believe that in the end it is not only a matter of intention, but of having the means," emphasizes the president of ANPE, who speaks of an unavoidable path: "We must reach 5% of the budgets to finance education."
And it is that, if we do not try to reverse the situation, Pedro Crespo is clear, the Canary Islands will suffer a triple problem: social, economic, and territorial.
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