The municipality of Tinajo celebrated this Monday afternoon, in the House of Culture of the municipality (known as the old cinema on Avenida de Los Vólcanes), an emotional tribute to some 32 teachers, who have dedicated their entire lives to teaching and who, for one reason or another, at the end of the current 2004-2005 academic year, have decided to retire.
The island director of Education, Juan Cruz Sepúlveda, announced this tribute that the municipality of Tinajo offered yesterday to various teachers who, after an extensive and long career, have decided to retire at the end of this course.
"Last year the tribute began in the municipality of Yaiza, and this year it is Tinajo's turn," said the island director of Education, who pointed out that since then, "all teachers who leave their work are to be recognized for their active life in the teaching profession, both in the body of teachers and in the secondary school," he said.
"The previous year there was a coincidence that on the island of Lanzarote a high number of teachers were finishing their activity in that course, so it was decided to hold a specific act, and the Vice-Ministry of Education did not put any impediment to doing this small act, of an institutional nature," he explained.
Specifically, the 2003-2004 academic year marked the end of the career for more than 40 teachers, when, according to Cruz Saavedra, "normally this figure does not exceed half a dozen."
The 32 teachers who received their more than deserved tribute represent a low percentage for the "almost 1,700 teachers who, between Primary and Secondary Education, work today on the Island and teach 20,000 students, 5,000 of them foreigners."
Annual tributes in Lanzarote
Last year Yaiza was the municipality in charge of carrying out this tribute, especially because "the teachers who retired last year had some link with this locality." This year, according to Juan Cruz Sepúlveda, the municipality of Tinajo has been chosen because, of the 32 who are retiring, at least 9 have maintained a professional link linked to this locality." There is even the odd teacher who "began his teaching activity in Tinajo and now, after more than 30 years of profession, is retiring in the same municipality."
Anecdotes of a lifetime
"Some teachers told me last year that their professional career passed very quickly. In these tributes one always remembers where one studied teaching, their first steps through a school, the evolution of the educational model, but in the end everyone leaves happy for having played a social role and for having dedicated themselves to a profession for which they will always be remembered, since teachers always mark us," commented Juan Cruz, "especially," in what were the unitary schools, since "the treatment was, without a doubt, much more personalized than now," he added.
