The AMPA of the Nieves Toledo School delivers 1,200 signatures to request the opening of the school canteen

The parents' association (AMPA) of the Nieves Toledo Infant and Primary School has delivered this Friday to the Island Education Office 1,187 signatures to demand that the school canteen be opened next year, which has been built for two years. In addition, it has demanded that the early reception project that was eliminated during this course be implemented again.

The association has submitted a letter stating that "the construction of the dining room was completed more than two years ago, at the end of 2009, and it still cannot be used for the purpose for which it was built." They emphasize that the Arrecife City Council assures that the building has all the necessary municipal permits to be used. "We find no reason why its commissioning should not be authorized, a responsibility that is the sole responsibility of the Government of the Canary Islands," says the AMPA.

The opening of the dining room is also a demand supported by the School Board of the school and which, through the management of the center, has been requested up to three times, since 2009. In its latest request, of November 30, 2011, the director, David Hernández Morales, highlighted that the construction of the dining room responds to "a social request since many families cannot take care of the proper nutrition of their children due to the lack of conciliation between work and educational life, being forced to hire the services of a person to feed them."

"The lack of a dining room is forcing families to resort to the support of relatives and in many cases, to have to resort to private homes that function as dining rooms or nurseries, which are irregularly replacing a function that should be offered by the Public Administration and that, in this case, with its inactivity, the Ministry of Education is allowing," the letter states.

The AMPA considers that the existing demand among families is more than enough reason for the dining room to be authorized, which has been requested for 220 diners. The CEIP Nieves Toledo is one of the schools with the highest number of students in Arrecife and one of the few that does not have a dining room operating, despite the fact that the demand for its construction and opening dates back to 1999, the year in which more than a thousand signatures were already obtained to request its construction.

According to the association, the subsidy for the dining room would not exceed 40,000 euros per year, and in addition to "placing us on equal terms with the majority of educational centers in Lanzarote", it would serve "so that those families who, due to their low income level, could not do so in another way, can opt for the dining room". The AMPA also asks that the early reception service, which was eliminated during this course, be restored.

S.G / ACN Press