PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
The Ministry of Education and Universities of the Government of the Canary Islands has announced that it will begin construction of the new Playa Blanca Compulsory Education Center (CEO) "in the first quarter of the year, once the contracting process is completed." The project was awarded at the end of 2016 to the company Satocan for 4,729,654.96 euros.
The Minister of Education and Universities of the Government of the Canary Islands, Soledad Monzón, visited this Friday together with the mayor of Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, the general director of Centers and Educational Infrastructure, Ana Dorta, and the island director of Education, Mario Pérez, the plot where the new center will be located. In addition, she has also visited the current CEIP Playa Blanca and the municipality of Tinajo.
As for the future school in Playa Blanca, it will have 21 classrooms, 3 for kindergarten, 6 for primary and 12 for secondary, in addition to other facilities such as a gymnasium, changing rooms, dining room and covered sports court. The Ministry has included in the general budgets of 2017 an item of 2.4 million euros to start the works, which will have an execution period of 24 months.
A school with more than 40 nationalities
Before visiting this site, the councilor learned first-hand about the needs of CEIP Playa Blanca, where she met with the management team. The center currently has almost 900 students and among the demands is "greater language support, in a school with more than 40 different nationalities or pedagogical reinforcement, while maintaining the high number of students."
According to the Government of the Canary Islands in a statement, Soledad Monzón pledged to the center to expand the bathrooms, which are insufficient to serve its students. In addition, they point out that the councilor "evaluated the result of the work carried out by the Ministry in the playgrounds of the center, which have been improved and expanded in the past year."
Promise of works in the centers of Tinajo
After making these first visits, the regional head of Education and Universities moved to the municipality of Tinajo, where she held a meeting with the mayor of the town, Jesús Machín, and visited the CEIP Virgen de los Volcanes, a center that was awarded last year as one of the safest at the state level.
After visiting the center's facilities and learning about the demands of the educational community, Soledad Monzón pledged to carry out the necessary works to expand the center's gymnasium.
The councilor closed her agenda in Lanzarote with a visit to the Tinajo Secondary Education Institute (IES), where she evaluated the state of the skylights in the main building, which the regional department has repaired in the last year after being affected by the rains. Soledad Monzón has learned about other needs of the educational center together with her team, to evaluate other improvements, such as the replacement of other skylights or the repair of the roof of the sports hall.
