The Minister of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Poli Suárez, visited the La Destila Center for Early Childhood and Primary Education this Tuesday, in Arrecife, in whose dining room, together with the meals of its own students, those that are distributed daily among nine unitary schools in San Bartolomé, Tinajo and Teguise are prepared.
“This guarantees the provision of an essential complementary service for these centers,” said Suárez, who was accompanied on the visit by the general director of Center Administration, School Enrollment and Complementary Services, David Crego, and the island director of Education, Carmen Pellón.
“The service that this center and its dining room provide to the vast majority of unitary schools in Lanzarote is fundamental,” added the minister, who stressed the “need to promote more actions that, like this dining room, allow supporting the continuity and viability of centers that are very important for small communities, rural areas and the entire Canarian educational system.”
Specifically, in the kitchens of the CEIP La Destila, the meals for its 130 diners and those of another 159 unitary schools are prepared every day: the CEIP María Auxiliadora (30 students) and Güime (22), in San Bartolomé; El Cuchillo (17) and La Vegueta (11), in Tinajo; and La Caleta de Famara (25), Los Valles (10), Muñique (11), Soo (7) and Tao (19), in Teguise.
The distribution of meals is guaranteed thanks to a special transport service, financed by the Ministry of Education, and whose amount has amounted, for the current year, to a total of 87,801 euros. Currently, there is a similar service on the island of El Hierro, with a cost of around 100,000 euros per year, and another is being studied for Fuerteventura, as announced by Poli Suárez.
During the visit, the minister learned firsthand how the CEIP La Destila dining room works and the logistics behind the distribution of meals, both in the center itself and in its transport to the rest of the educational centers.
In that sense, Suárez valued "the work of the professionals at the center and expressed the Ministry's commitment to continue improving the quality of the model."
“Thanks to this joint effort of the entire educational community, many families who live in these towns prevent their daughters and sons from having to travel long distances to receive the service,” he recalled, while emphasizing the commitment of the Government of the Canary Islands to an accessible, equitable and quality education throughout the archipelago.
