The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, together with the Minister of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports, Manuela Armas, and the President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, officially inaugurated this Tuesday the Haría Secondary Education Institute (IES) and the Playa Blanca Compulsory Education Center (CEO), although both have been operating since the beginning of the course.
The two works involved a total investment of 9.2 million euros, 4,478,016 for the IES Haría and 4,795,623 euros for the CEO Playa Blanca.
The inaugurations were attended by the mayoress of Haría, Chaxiraxi Niz, and the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, as well as the director of the IES Haría, Enrique Pérez Coll, and the director of the CEO Playa Blanca, Miguel Aguerralde.
“When an educational center is opened, we are making a clear commitment to training, learning and social justice”, said Torres, who recalled “the struggle of many people over a long period of time to make an educational center in the north of Lanzarote a reality”.
“The opening of these centers is a clear commitment by the public to universal education, preventing people from having to travel to be trained, as happened seventy or eighty years ago, and proof that Canarian society has moved to provide people with fair training. We have to bring the infrastructure to the people and not the people to the infrastructure”, Torres concluded.
Manuela Armas highlighted the importance of children “enjoying the new center together with the teachers”, who will have the necessary conditions “to be able to develop their educational work”.
“We see that such a historic demand has become a reality”, said the counselor, while recalling that the IES Haría not only covers the educational needs of the students of Haría, “but also of the children of La Graciosa”, and stressed “the commitment of the Ministry to complete the second phase before the end of this term”.
The IES Haría occupies an area of 15,633 square meters and consists of three independent modules connected to each other, with two floors each and located on a slope in a staggered manner. The constructed area is 5,802 square meters.
In total, it has a capacity for 540 students. It also has a covered sports hall. After the reception of the work, the old facilities occupied by this center were demolished and a second phase is planned, consisting of the construction of the parking lot.
The student body is made up of 330 students of 12 nationalities. Of these, 284 students benefit from the six school transport routes, 19 from school breakfasts, and 61 from the Ministry's book grants. The northern institute has 16 units, 10 of which are Secondary, 4 of Baccalaureate, and two of Intermediate Level Training Cycles, as well as 41 teachers.
From Education they add that these new facilities have allowed to increase the offer of Professional Training. Thus, together with the Intermediate Level training cycles in Microcomputer Systems and Networks, which were already offered in previous courses, in the 2022-23 academic year, the teachings of First of the Basic Level Cycle of Computing and Communications and First of Development of Multiplatform Applications, of Higher Level, will be offered. In addition to being part of the Red Canaria InnovAS, this center develops different educational projects, including the development of School Gardens, the digital newspaper “La Palmera” and the initiatives “Healthy Challenges” and “Recréate”, among others.
CEO Playa Blanca
For its part, from Education they point out that the work of the CEO Playa Blanca was received in May 2021. The new infrastructures occupy 13,000 meters and are distributed in several buildings that include areas for Early Childhood Education, with 925.26 meters; Primary with 995 meters, Secondary with 1,812 meters, school dining room of 238 meters, sports center of 1,100, gymnasium and changing rooms of 464 and those of administration and recreation.
In total, from Education they point out that it has capacity for 585 students. Within the center's plot there is a reserve space for a potential expansion in the future, which already has a drafted project.
In the current course, 464 students of 27 nationalities formalized their enrollment, attended by 43 teachers. Of these students, 195 are users of the four transport routes, 74 of the dining service, 18 of school breakfasts, and 193 receive aid for books and school supplies.
The center has 20 units and participates in a wide variety of educational projects convened by the Ministry, such as the initiatives “Canarian Scientific Women”, “Heritage on stage”, “Ecological School Gardens”, “A tree in my yard”, or the action “Educational Chess. Educating little people, not champions”. With regard to teacher training, it participates in the training itinerary “First steps in Teaching Digital Competence”.
The Ministry of Education adds that these educational centers of Lanzarote are equipped with photovoltaic panels for their energy self-sufficiency, within the framework of compliance with the Canary Islands 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, another 10 educational centers in Lanzarote are part of a pilot project for the installation of renewable energy infrastructures, which are currently in different phases of execution, under the coordination of the Teacher Center (CEP), which is already developing this initiative.
Works planned in the new CEO Costa Teguise and CEIP El Quintero
Apart from these two centers, the Ministry is working on the processing of other educational infrastructure works in Lanzarote. This is, on the one hand, the new building of the CEO Costa Teguise, whose investment will reach 7.3 million, and which will have a useful area of 3,895 square meters on a plot of 14,580 m2.
The new facility will comprise 30 units, consisting of six classrooms for Infant, 12 for Primary, and 12 for Secondary, plus another 20 complementary classrooms/workshops. It will also integrate common service and administration areas, outdoor classrooms for Infant, porch, playground, sports center, parking, wrestling ground, orchard and garden.
Likewise, the Government of the Canary Islands is advancing in the Cooperation Agreement with the City Council of San Bartolomé for the updating of the project and execution of the construction of the CEIP El Quintero, which will be located in that municipality and whose investment is 8.1 million euros in three years: 2022, 2023 and 2024.
In this case, the planned works will allow to have 18 units distributed in six for Infant (from 3 to 6 years); and 12, from 6 to 12 years, on a plot of 12,020 square meters and a constructed area of 4,638 square meters.
