The Mercedes Medina Díaz Association appreciates the realization of the mural, "its unbeatable location in a reference place for culture, such as the Assembly Hall of the Insular Library of Lanzarote and especially to all the people who supported the event: family and friends of Doña Mercedes, former students, neighborhood associations of Arrecife, directors and teachers of the CEIP Mercedes Medina Díaz".
The event was opened by the Councilor for Education of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Myriam Barros Grosso, who made a sketch of the life of Mercedes Medina, referring to the "teacher's commitment to ensuring that her students overcame the conditions of their time by continuing their studies, at least until Middle School, for which she did not hesitate to mediate with the parents, because for her it was ideal to achieve the development of people, that they be trained, have open minds, be more autonomous, supportive and less manipulable" .
She worked in many educational centers such as Generalísimo Franco, known as Los Grupos, currently La Destila, in Sanjurjo or in the school known as Escuela del Caracol or La Escalerita, due to its peculiar form of access. She received in life the honor of seeing how, on April 23, 1991, Book Day, the school that would bear her name was inaugurated in the Tinasoria neighborhood, the Mercedes Medina Díaz Infant and Primary Education School.
"Thirty years later, under the current municipal mandate, the name of the center disappears, leaving the CEIP Nieves Toledo as the only one with the name of a woman and within the activities dedicated to women in the month of March we reflect, in whose head was the idea of forgetting a distinguished teacher born? We know that this is not a center but from today the Assembly Hall of the Insular Library, a temple of culture and literature, will welcome those who wish with a mural with the image of a woman who fought tirelessly", they point out from the Association.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Universities and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, María Dolores Rodríguez González, spoke, who recalled as a teacher, like many of the colleagues present, "the vicissitudes that are passed to get the students ahead, such as those that the teacher we honor today went through, a responsible person in a very hard time. In the 80s when we started our journey we had a very high ratio, today we have managed to reduce it, however she did not have that possibility but despite this she got her students ahead, among them some who are here today, the same Minister of Education of the Canary Islands was her student. I congratulate the initiative, because it is a figure that must be valued and serves to emphasize the valuable work that our teachers do with self-sacrifice in Infant and Primary Education".
Before proceeding to the presentation of the mural, the president of the Association, Juan Cruz Sepúlveda, spoke, thanking the attendance, especially the representation of former students who promoted the proposal to nominate the school that in 1990 was being built in the Tinasoria neighborhood, which the Arrecife plenary session of November of that year endorsed with an absolute majority and which would be inaugurated on Book Day of 1991. Until three decades later, on March 8, International Women's Day, the School Council of the IES, with the approval of the Arrecife City Council, confirms that the nomination had been left in the past.
"From that moment we have not stopped receiving expressions of support and requests to restore the original nomination from the neighborhood associations of Arrecife; the Federation of AMPAS of Lanzarote, which includes more than 40 centers; social and cultural groups; unions; and political parties. Being according to the United Nations 2023 the International Year of Dialogue we are convinced that it is time to open a calm debate within the Municipal School Council so that all parties can contribute their vision", they conclude from the Association..