The Lanzarote natives Manuel García Déniz and Rafael Curbelo Armas have been awarded the Viera y Clavijo 2023 distinctions, the highest decoration awarded by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The award ceremony will take place on May 24 at the House of Culture of the Tenerife municipality of Los Realejos.
Manuel García Déniz
A native of Lanzarote, he has a career of four decades at the service of education on the islands, an activity that he continues to expand despite being retired. A great passionate about mathematics, reading and music, he has dedicated his life to the teaching of numbers and the training of teachers.
He participated in the development of programs within the framework of the former General Basic Education (EGB), in the Ministry of Education in Madrid, and in the coordination of projects in the General Directorate of Planning of the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands.
He also promoted the mobile workshop of mathematical games and puzzles Komando Matemático, which is still running today, and has been involved in recent years in the training of teachers in mathematics didactics as well as the Newton program for project resolution, later called Matemáticas Newton Canarias.
Rafael Curbelo Armas
Professor of Geography and History from the University of Valladolid and native of Lanzarote, he served as an inspector for twenty-one years on his island, a stage in which he spared no effort to improve existing educational facilities and promote the construction of new infrastructures, as well as the computerization of the centers.
After his retirement, he has continued working on the dissemination of education and culture from different Lanzarote associations and has published the book Haría: geographical, historical and artistic synthesis, which he has given to the Ministry of Education of the Canary Islands Government for its didactic use in the classrooms.
In addition, the CEIP Puntagorda (La Palma) and Gran Canaria centers, on the island of the same name, and the IES La Laboral de La Laguna (Tenerife) have been awarded.
