Lanzarote opposes the clone factory

March 21 2016 (10:50 WET)

César Manrique said that "a people without education is doomed to ruin." John F. Kennedy also linked the development of a people to their education, proclaiming the need for both to advance in parallel to achieve good results.

Many illustrious figures have spoken about this concept, which transforms people and societies. The importance of people's Education and Training in seeking resources and creating new ones is well known. However, it seems that it is in the "interest" of Lanzarote to continue with a primitive education, which prevents us from discovering the route to economic diversification. And we have been trying for years to trace that path complementary to the Tourism sector, where we cannot all fit. A model that allows, at the same time, to enrich the value of the island, its inhabitants and those who visit it, while we manage to tackle unemployment.

The high unemployment rates in Lanzarote sound like a cry in the middle of the desert, they are heard, but they do not arrive. It is evident that it is necessary to provide the island with specific training for activities and sectors that cannot be developed because there are no professionals to take advantage of market opportunities, respond to the needs of companies and lead the change towards a transformation of employment.

The Integrated Vocational Training Centers (CIFP) are created to respond to the training demands that the modern society of the 21st century requires and for which the business fabric guarantees an updated professional career. These centers offer training options that lead to obtaining FP degrees and professional certificates. In addition to accrediting you as a qualified technician and opening access to studies with a degree.

In the Canary Islands there are seven centers (CIFP), three on the island of Tenerife: "Los Gladiolos", "Las Indias" and "César Manrique" (it has its joke); three in Gran Canaria: "Cruz de Piedra", "San Cristobal" and "Villa de Agüimes"; one in Fuerteventura: "CIFP Majada Marcial", although a second center of these characteristics is currently being requested for Gran Tarajal. The ninth center, under construction, is that of La Palma, which is close to opening. This means that, soon, there will be nine centers of these characteristics in the Canary Islands and none of them are in Lanzarote.

We do not know if this reveals an acute lack of vision on the part of the competent bodies, responsible for just over a decade, or if it is an intentional attitude to turn Lanzarote into the island that provides workers for basic services. A factory of laborers without training more like an army of clones than a modern society of the 21st century. We want to think that is not the reason.

The fact is that Lanzarote suffers a very serious setback in the educational offer. We do not have a university offer, although we understand that there cannot be a university campus on each island, that is why we have to be able to offer training alternatives such as the Integrated Vocational Training Centers with which we are shamefully delayed.

The island has been requesting a center of these characteristics for almost a decade, defying all kinds of excuses. Today there are no more excuses, all the impediments have been overcome, now it is only a matter of will. It has to be a reality for the 2016-2017 academic year. There are several plenary agreements of the Cabildo, approved unanimously in recent years, for the IES Zonzamas to become an Integrated Center, there is a budget and there are the facilities. All social, business and political agents are demanding that CIFP, so if it is not done it is because it is not wanted, this has to be clear. We are what we do, not what we say, and Lanzarote wants to be more than a clone factory.

 

By José Torres Fuentes, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote

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