Illescas (Toledo).- The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Milagros Tolón, highlighted this Friday that, in the last seven years, Castilla-La Mancha has received from the Ministry an historic investment in Education of 1,127.13 million euros, of which 307 million have been allocated to Vocational Training, which has financed 18,896 new places in the last five years and reached the record figure of 45,560 students.

The head of Education has provided these figures in her visit to the IES Condestable Álvaro de Luna de Illescas (Toledo), which has been part of the National Network of Centres of Excellence since its creation in 2022 within the automated manufacturing sector. It is a network that since last year already has 75 centers throughout the country, five of them in Castilla-La Mancha.

On the investment of the Government of Spain in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, Milagros Tolón has pointed out that, of the 1,127.13 million euros received, more than 245 million have been allocated to territorial cooperation programs for textbooks, emotional and inclusive education, and reinforcement in mathematics and reading comprehension. To this amount, more than 96 million euros in scholarships are added in the academic year 2023-2024 (44.6 million more than in 2018), which has allowed to scholarship 36,522 students, and 37.9 million in Early Childhood Education from 0 to 3 years between 2021 and 2024 for the creation of 3,717 new public places.

In the field of Vocational Training, the investment has exceeded 307 million euros, which has allowed to finance 18,896 new places in the last five years. This bet has meant that the number of students has reached a record number: 45,560 students. It is worth noting the significant investment in training for workers, of almost 240 million euros.

Accompanied by the director of the center, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, by the mayor of Illescas, José Manuel Tofiño, and by the delegate of the Government in Castilla-La Mancha, José Pablo Sabrido, and by the general director of Planning, Innovation and Management of the FP, the minister has visited the facilities of the center and has been able to talk with the teaching team.

He has also talked with the students who study one of the eight training cycles that are taught in the center related to the families of Commerce and Marketing, Installation and Maintenance and Mechanical Manufacturing.

The centre, inaugurated in 1998, is located in an environment that has undergone a profound economic transformation in recent years. Currently, the area has been consolidated as a strategic industrial pole, especially in the aeronautical sector, led by the company Airbus and its ecosystem of auxiliary companies such as Composystem, Mudem, Aernnova or Delta Illescas. It has also gained weight in the logistics field with the creation of the Iberum Central Platform and the Dry Port, which have attracted multinationals and logistics operators such as Amazon, Seur, DHL, Toyota, Michelin, H&M, Día and Alcampo. Representatives of some of these companies have also attended the visit.

The 75 centres that make up the State Network of Centres of Excellence in Vocational Training are leaders in their respective sectors and act as catalysts for ecosystems of innovation, research and entrepreneurship in close connection with the productive sectors of their territories.

In addition to the CIFP Condestable Álvaro de Luna, the CIFP Aguas Nuevos de Albacete (Aeronautical); the CIFP Virgen de Gracia de Ciudad Real (Information Technologies); the CIFP Number one in Cuenca (Tourism); and the IES Ribera del Tajo de Talavera de la Reina (IA and Big Data) are part of this network of centres in Castilla-La Mancha.