The Minister of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, Poli Suárez, said this Thursday in a parliamentary committee that in the Canary Islands there are about 2,400 unaccompanied migrant children who are enrolled in schools, less than half of those under the administration's guardianship, and added that only 1% of schoolchildren on the islands are unaccompanied minors.
In response to the deputy of the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG), Melodie Mendoza, about how many of the nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children under the guardianship of the Canary Islands are enrolled in schools, the minister explained that these are estimates because in the management of enrollment there is no field to identify the situation.
According to the estimated data from September of this year, about 2,400 minor immigrant students are enrolled in the Canary Islands archipelago, most of them in ESO and in the basic level training cycle.
The minister indicated that 1% of the students on the islands are made up of the group of unaccompanied minor immigrants, and added that "around 50% of the minors under the guardianship of the autonomous community are enrolled in schools."
Last year, about 2,200 unaccompanied minors were attended to in the Canary Islands, most of whom were under 16 years of age, and they were provided with about 1,666 hours of language support, and the minister emphasized that "measures for their adaptation are especially necessary, particularly because many have not been schooled."
He also highlighted the relevance of them receiving Vocational Training so that they can work in the European territory, and stressed that this is the "tip of the iceberg" in which it is necessary for other autonomous communities to collaborate to share efforts, and for the central government to be financially co-responsible.
