We Need a New Educational Investment Plan

Necesitamos un nuevo plan de inversiones educativas

In no other island has there been as much administrative collaboration on educational investments as in Fuerteventura. Aware of the shortcomings caused by rapid population growth, at the beginning of this century we began coordinated work between the municipalities, the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, and the Government of the Canary Islands.

The competencies are almost exclusively those of the Government, but local administrations freely ceded land to build new schools and secondary institutes. We provided temporary spaces to hold classes while construction was completed. We collaborated with our own staff on the works and still maintain, to this day, crews of workers improving the educational centers.

We did this because we found planning and energy in the Ministry of Education to respond to Fuerteventura’s needs. At that time the so‑called Plan Sur was drafted, bringing significant investments. The various teams managing Education in the Canary Islands government were always coordinated with the island’s institutions and the AMPAS and teachers’ groups. Although there were delays, solutions were achieved.

What has been happening since the previous legislature is a step back of decades. In 2019 the team led by Soledad Monzón not only left new infrastructure projects completed or underway, but also planned future actions with a multi‑year horizon. There was constant dialogue and a lot of work. Yet in the last legislature nothing new was done in Fuerteventura—no projects of our own. On the contrary, they were delayed and halted.

Midway through the current legislature, the investment dynamics of the Ministry of Education continue the same inertia. The only thing that has been done is to inaugurate what the Monzón team left in motion or budgeted. Worse still, there is no dialogue with local island institutions or educational collectives. We are not consulted, not informed, and our written requests for working meetings for months have gone unanswered.

The way Education managers operate with Fuerteventura resembles a Binter flight: they arrive in the morning, ask their advisors what is pending on the island, take a photo, smile, and return to the plane.

Today it is worth noting that the adult CEPA in Puerto del Rosario still lacks sufficient spaces and serves 400 students.

In the Fuerteventura Technology Park we continue to give Education free space for the School of Art, because ten years later they have not even planned the construction of its own facilities.

The CIFP Majada Marcial still has to teach six groups of students in the same Technology Park, but in the afternoon, because the expansion works have not been carried out—despite forecasts made at least a decade ago and land made available.

The offer of vocational training cycles (FP and FPB) has not only failed to grow; it has shrunk. The central and southern parts of Fuerteventura are seeing population and economic growth, demanding more vocational training, yet the IES Gran Tarajal has unused space. The creation of a CIFP in Gran Tarajal is no longer discussed (despite an offered school residence). The expansion of the primary school in Tarajalejo has also stalled.

The same situation exists in northern Fuerteventura. Corralejo needs, among other things, an Artistic Baccalaureate and an expanded FP offering. In Puerto del Rosario some centers have had to turn their cafeterias into classrooms because they simply cannot accommodate students.

We could continue listing municipalities that, faced with a lack of local educational provision, must set up school transport systems to send students to other municipalities, or cite absurd investments in “shadow zones” where schools remain empty because the provision of places for children aged 0‑3 has not been properly coordinated.

In summary, the “Binter‑type” management in Education is causing a serious regression in investments for Fuerteventura.

We need planning and, above all, a Ministry of Education that sits down to work with local institutions and affected collectives. The municipalities and the Cabildo will continue to collaborate, but we also demand a radical change in Education from the Canary Islands Government.