May 9, 2023.- The Government, at the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, has today approved the distribution of an investment of more than 29 million euros to Castilla y León in Education for digital training and the improvement of equity.
The total investment for all the autonomous communities, to improve the quality and equity of the educational system of our country, amounts to 566 million euros, distributed in five headings: Program School Code 4.0, the PROA+ Program and the Program of Accompaniment Units; textbooks; and Inclusive Education.
School Code Program 4.0
A first agreement plans to allocate, through the autonomous communities, 298.4 million euros to the School Code 4.0 Program to train in robotics, programming and new technologies the 5.5 million students of the second cycle of Infant, Primary Education and Secondary Education enrolled in public and concerted centers. To Castile and Leon, it corresponds more than 16.7 million euros.
Of the total amount for this program distributed to the CCAA, $199 million will be used for programming and robotic equipment in more than 17,000 schools. Another 99.4 million will be for the accompaniment and support of teachers, hiring assistants of technological and pedagogical profiles while advancing the training of teachers.
Last year, some 30 million euros were already allocated for teacher training in this field. In 2024, another 65 million will be distributed for the accompaniment of teachers.
Support for families and students with difficulties
On the other hand, the Council of Ministers has approved an investment of 173 million euros to help families and students with difficulties, of which 8.3 million are for Castilla y León. The PROA+ program will have 118 million euros, of which 5.7 million euros are for Castilla y León; and the Follow-up Unit Program has been provided with 55 million euros, of which more than 2.6 million euros for Castilla y León.
The PROA+ educational support and reinforcement program will benefit students from more than 3,000 schools of special educational complexity in all the autonomous communities. With these funds, the centers commit to develop a support plan that includes actions such as reinforcement during school and non-school hours, co-teaching, tutoring, training for families or other activities that seek to avoid early school leaving. In total, between 2021 and 2023, including the item approved today, EUR 360 million will have been allocated to the PROA+ programme.
As for the Accompaniment Units, the objective is to work directly and personalized with students at risk of early abandonment to support them in their educational trajectory from Primary and until the completion of Secondary or Baccalaureate. Between 2021 and 2023, more than 124 million euros will have been invested in all the autonomous communities for the implementation of 1,148 units of this type.
Textbooks and Inclusive Education
In addition, a budget of over €2.2 million has been approved for Castilla y León, out of the €58.5 million allocated to the CCAA to help families cope with the cost of textbooks and school materials, including digital materials, for students from publicly supported schools.
Finally, more than 1.7 million euros will be allocated to Castilla y León, of the 36 million euros approved for distribution among the CCAA for the Territorial Cooperation of Inclusive Education program, which is in addition to the 38 million distributed in 2022, to improve attention to the diversity of students and their specific needs for educational support. The aim is to offer additional staff resources and more training for the centres, as well as support and collaboration between special and ordinary education centres and also the families themselves.
In this regard, Minister Alegría recalled that the Ministry has opened this Monday the deadline to apply for grants for students with specific educational support needs for the 2023-24 academic year. This year, the call, open until September 20, includes for the first time a supplementary aid of 400 euros to cover the additional expenses of the families.