The Yaiza government group proposed to the Plenary to address the Ministry of Education of the Canary Islands Government to demand "two pressing needs" expressed by the schools of Playa Blanca and Uga, through their school councils. In the case of CEIP Playa Blanca, it is about requesting the competent Ministry to provide school transport service to 78 children in Early Childhood Education.
Regarding Uga, the request corresponds to the construction of a classroom with a bathroom for Second Grade students. The motion, which includes both demands, was approved this Thursday unanimously.
The City Council reminds the Canarian Executive that CEIP Playa Blanca, with 812 students, is one of the educational centers "with the most students in all of the Canary Islands, without its infrastructure and equipment having been adjusted to the growth and needs of the student population
in recent years".
Of the total number of students currently enrolled, 248 are studying Early Childhood Education and at least 78 of them do not have the school transport service that their families have been requesting, "despite the efforts of the center to provide coverage and the efforts made by the City Council itself", according to the City Council in a statement.
In fact, another 35 students from Early Childhood Education are already being transported, according to the criteria approved by the School Council that they are users of the school cafeteria or have a sibling studying Primary in the same CEIP Playa Blanca. Therefore, 35 Early Childhood Education students are transported and there are 78 more waiting for the service.
One more bus
To solve the problem of Playa Blanca, maintaining the four current buses that make two trips each, one more would be needed to make two trips: one on the north route (Marquesina, Coloradas, Marcastell and Aulagar stops), which would serve 49 students, and another trip on the south route (Paradise, Faro, Flamingo and Shangrila stops), which would cover 29 students.
"The competence lies with the Ministry of the Government of the Canary Islands and it is they who have to resolve this issue that affects the educational community of Playa Blanca, which makes an enormous sacrifice to maintain the quality of education despite not enjoying the best conditions", said the mayor, Gladys Acuña, who also maintains that "the City Council demands the service taking into account the needs of parents, mothers and guardians, who find it increasingly difficult to reconcile home life with their work routine".
"It is not the first time that the Yaiza City Council has called on the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands to act at CEIP Playa Blanca", Acuña insisted. The mayor recalled that in this legislature the municipality has invested "like never before" in all the educational centers of Yaiza, especially in the CEIP Playa Blanca, where the school stop was built, the facade of the center and the playground were repaired, and gates were installed and walls were erected to preserve the integrity of the children.
Protests in Uga
On the other hand, "it is no secret" that CEIP Uga also had problems at the start of the 2014-2015 school year, when mothers and fathers made their protests public. The City Council, in the same motion approved this Thursday, asks the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands to build a classroom with a bathroom for Second Grade, "which could even be used by Early Childhood Education students in the future".
Today, the students of said course attend classes in the jellyfish computer room, "whose conditions are not the most suitable to develop their regular academic activity", according to the City Council.