The Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture, and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands has once again urged the Arrecife City Council to complete "as soon as possible" the eviction process of the homes of CEIP La Destila, so that the Ministry can begin demolition work this summer, as a date "that cannot be extended".
The Government demands from the Lanzarote Consistory "greater speed" in the management to be able to execute this work that is paralyzed, with the consequent damage that this delay supposes for the schoolchildren, who have already gathered on several occasions with their parents to demand the new center.
The Ministry of Education will build a new educational center on the site of the current CEIP La Destila, since Arrecife does not have new sites in the municipality for educational purposes and the growth of schooling in recent courses makes it necessary to expand the number of places in this Lanzarote municipality.
The CEIP La Destila site consists of about 4,475 square meters, which allows building a new three-story center that combines several activities. Likewise, the possibility of building an underground parking lot to optimize resources is contemplated, and it is expected to increase the current 480 school places that the center has to 620, distributed in 18 units, 8 of them for Early Childhood Education and another 12 for Primary Education.
The Ministry informed the Arrecife City Council in 2009 that the new center was a priority in educational planning, and that the project aimed to offer the maximum guarantees of construction and educational quality for students since, due to the deterioration of the facilities after 50 years of use, it was not viable to undertake renovation work.
With project and budget, but unable to start
The regional administration approved at the time the drafting of the demolition project and allocated a budget of 130,000 euros. Already since last Christmas, according to the Ministry, "an attempt was made to act in a first phase of demolition and fencing of the site but, after the continuous delays in municipal management to carry out the eviction, the process could not be started".
All these actions were transferred both to the center's teaching staff and to the parents, according to reports from the Ministry, from where they point out that, in addition, the Insular Directorate of Education in Lanzarote has periodically consulted with the City Council on the resolution of the file, with the aim of speeding up the procedures, while also holding meetings on two occasions with the mayor, Cándido Reguera, with the assistance of the Deputy Minister of Education and Universities, Gonzalo Marrero, and the territorial director of Education in Las Palmas, Julio González.
The Arrecife City Council, for its part, initiated the eviction file for the homes attached to La Destila in October last year. However, as the mayor of Arrecife, Cándido Reguera, explained just a few weeks ago, the authorization of the Ministry of Education is needed to change the registration of ownership of the center to the name of the Consistory. And, while that authorization does not arrive, the eviction cannot proceed and, therefore, the construction of the new center.
