PAU and economy

By Manuel García On June 13, 14 and 15, the University Entrance Exams of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were held. In total, almost 4,950 students. If they pass it, another barrier awaits them: an increase in fees of ...

June 18 2012 (14:32 WEST)
By Manuel García
On June 13, 14 and 15, the University Entrance Exams of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were held. In total, almost 4,950 students. If they pass it, another barrier awaits them: an increase in fees of ...

On June 13, 14 and 15, the University Entrance Exams of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were held. In total, almost 4,950 students. If they pass it, another barrier awaits them: an increase in tuition fees and a tightening of the conditions for accessing scholarships. It seems clear that for our Minister of Education, these young people are cannon fodder to pay for an economic crisis that has largely been generated by the private sector. But also, due to the measures taken, their training is really a burden for the Government.

However, in other countries things are seen differently. Where here there is spending, there they consider it an opportunity, a future investment. A quality education system is the necessary gear to move the machinery of economic productivity. While here we make it difficult for teachers to do their job, in other economies things are made easier for them due to their strong impact on industrial development. A clear example is South Korea. Forty years ago, its socioeconomic situation was comparable to Afghanistan's current situation. Far from cutting back, a strong investment was made in education and in linking it to the productive system. Currently, for example, the Korean company Samsung is the only one that keeps up with Apple (iPhone) in the lucrative communications market.

The only certainty is that an analysis of the current economic situation is somewhat risky. Let's assume that Spain's main problem is liquidity. For this reason, our European partners are going to inject around 100 billion euros into Spanish banks. How did we get here? Surely because we have based our economy on strong internal consumption. Let's think that when, for example, we buy a German car, the manufactured product stays here and the money ultimately goes to Germany. The first thing that occurs to me, in view of the facts, is that we have to generate and focus on a solid technological export industry. Possibly, Minister Wert has not yet realized who is responsible for starting or sustaining this restructuring (yes, and in four years when they finish their university period, those to whom we are putting obstacles today).

In 1965, thanks to the impulse of the naval engineer Don Manuel Díaz Rijo, in Lanzarote we were the first Europeans to desalinate sea water. In the Canary Islands, we have solar light, wind and sea at our disposal waiting for us to have, once again, enough vision to tame them in a sustainable way and lay the foundations for a stable renewable energy industry with the capacity to export technology. But for that, it is necessary to consider education not as an expense that must be cut, but rather as an intelligent way out of the crisis.

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