A daily peseta fine for not attending school. That was the penalty announced by the Arrecife City Council in November 1954 to combat illiteracy, a reality that continued to condition the opportunities of a large part of the Lanzarote population. The initiative was not limited to demanding school enrollment for children: it also aimed to offer training to young people who had reached adolescence without learning to read or write.
The circular included economic penalties for minors between six and twelve years old who were not enrolled or missed class. The fine amounted to one peseta daily, and the measure extended to illiterate young people between twelve and twenty-one years old, who were required to enroll in schools set up to provide training in the afternoon and evening.
The news appeared in the weekly newspaper Antena, issue 84, published on November 23, 1954, on its fourth page. The chronology of Memoria de Lanzarote places the municipal initiative on November 12 of that year, a date that allows us to recover this episode from Arrecife's educational history.
An island that carried decades of illiteracy
Lanzarote had entered the 20th century with a significant educational deficit. Poverty, precarious family economies, population dispersion, and a lack of schools had limited access to education for generations.
The study by Yolanda Ortega Moral, "Alfabetización y economía en Arrecife de Lanzarote (1924-1935)," offers revealing figures. In 1900, illiteracy reached 80.05% of the island's population, compared to 56% recorded in Spain as a whole. In Arrecife, the rate stood at 54.3% in 1924 and had fallen to 47.9% in 1935.
Advances were also made in child schooling. In 1924, 31% of the population between five and fifteen years old attended school. Eleven years later, the percentage had increased to 73.2%. Despite this progress, more than a quarter of children in those age groups remained out of school in 1935.
Behind these indicators lay a particularly difficult social reality. In an economy largely dependent on agriculture and fishing, many families needed their children to contribute to the household's sustenance from a young age. Child labor was widespread, and in Arrecife's maritime environment, there are references to children joining fishing tasks from the age of eight.
The school thus competed with the most immediate needs of family survival. For numerous households, sending children to class meant foregoing important labor to supplement incomes that barely covered basic needs.
A campaign framed within national policy
Arrecife's initiative was part of the educational policy promoted by the Franco regime to reduce illiteracy. In March 1950, the National Board against Illiteracy had been created, responsible for coordinating actions through provincial and local bodies.
The ministerial order of July 20, 1953, established different instruments to develop these campaigns. Among them were classes for adult men and women, itinerant schools in population centers without educational facilities, and other initiatives aimed at facilitating basic education.
The provision also contemplated the economic collaboration of municipalities and the possibility of using legally imposed fines for lack of school attendance to finance literacy activities. Likewise, it recommended adapting class schedules to the students' work needs.
In July 1954, another decree modified the organization of provincial and local boards against illiteracy. Arrecife's campaign was therefore developed in a context of increasing institutional intervention to extend education among the population that had been left out of it.
Fines versus family difficulties
The municipal circular advocated for compulsory schooling and attributed to parents the responsibility of ensuring their children's attendance. However, absenteeism could not be explained solely by a lack of family commitment. Poverty, child labor, and limitations in educational infrastructure constituted obstacles that could hardly be resolved through economic sanctions.
Arrecife's situation reflected these contradictions. In September 1954, the Cabildo had agreed on a School Construction Plan, but ended up abandoning it due to economic difficulties in its execution. The insufficiency of classrooms continued to be an impediment to expanding educational coverage.
Combating illiteracy therefore required much more than imposing fines: it was necessary to have schools, teachers, and resources, in addition to offering schedules compatible with the circumstances of working families.
Night classes arrived in 1956
Municipal concern for education continued in the following years. On August 31, 1955, José Ramírez Cerdá, known as Pepín Ramírez, took over the Mayoralty of Arrecife and once again placed school absenteeism among the problems that needed to be addressed.
In September of that year, he published a new edict denouncing the numerous absences from class. The provision prohibited minors from remaining in the streets during school hours and warned parents of possible sanctions if they did not enroll their children or guarantee their attendance.
The literacy of those who had passed school age also began to materialize. In January 1956, night classes were launched for illiterate people at the National School on General Balmes street, an opportunity for those who, due to their personal or work circumstances, had not previously been able to access basic education.
The expansion of educational facilities remained another priority. The City Council promoted the construction of new unit schools on the land of the future Titerroy neighborhood and promoted other actions aimed at increasing the school capacity of the capital.
When learning to read was still an opportunity
The municipal campaign of 1954 allows us to glimpse a period when access to education was not within everyone's reach. Behind the fine of one peseta per day lay a society conditioned by poverty, labor obligations from an early age, and insufficient educational infrastructure to meet the needs of the population.
Literacy depended not only on the will to learn, but also on living conditions and the capacity of institutions to guarantee accessible education. The night classes of 1956 and subsequent school projects showed that this task required continuity, investment, and opportunities for those who had been left behind.
The episode recalls a time when many children had to share their childhood between school and work, while numerous adults reached maturity without mastering reading and writing. In that Arrecife of 1954, a fine of one peseta aimed to bring them to classrooms, but the real challenge was to ensure that education ceased to be a privilege conditioned by economic circumstances and became a real possibility for everyone.
DOCUMENTARY AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCES
• Antena, number 84, November 23, 1954, page 4. Municipal circular against illiteracy. • Memoria de Lanzarote. Historical chronology, entry corresponding to November 12, 1954. • Ortega Moral, Yolanda. Literacy and economy in Arrecife de Lanzarote (1924-1935). • García, Saúl. Pepín Ramírez. The man who turned Manrique into Caesar. César Manrique Foundation, 2019. • Ferrer, Mario. The difficult origins of education in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
• Decree of March 10, 1950, creating the National Board against Illiteracy. BOE. • Ministerial Order of July 20, 1953, on the activities of the Provincial Boards against Illiteracy. BOE.
• Decree of July 20, 1954, on the composition of provincial and local boards against illiteracy. BOE.
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