The Government delegate in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, this morning specified the funds that the National Executive approved in 2023 in educational matters for the autonomous community, which amount to more than 26.2 million euros distributed in various programs.
Arraiz Nalda has highlighted the relations of coordination, collaboration and cooperation that the central government maintains with the autonomous communities in the field of non-university education by promoting the quality and equity of the Spanish education system.
In this regard, the delegate explained that the various territorial collaboration programs financed by the Government of Spain “serve to develop various connected actions to face the main challenges of the educational system, achieving opportunities for mutual strengthening.”
On the one hand, it has highlighted that the Government of Spain is committed to Vocational Training by considering it as one of the best ways to invest in the modernization of the economy and to reduce youth unemployment in our country.
For this reason, this year 19.7 million have been approved for Rioja, “almost 20 million euros to favor the opening of an alternative to young people to achieve a decent and well-paid job is through Vocational Training,” he said.
Specifically, these items have been distributed in different programs:
- 3.3 million for the creation of 1,800 FP places until the end of 2024 in La Rioja.
- 5.1 million euros directed to the development of measures for modernization and growth of the Vocational Training educational system.
- 4.8 aimed at actions of the Modernization Plan of the FP, which will allow the accreditation of professional skills to 6,000 people, the creation of bilingual groups, the implementation of 3 applied technology classrooms and the creation of up to 16 new entrepreneurship classrooms.
Also within the programs to promote an updated, attractive and fully adapted Vocational Training to the needs of the new economy, the Government of Spain has approved to grant La Rioja 285,000 euros for the development of quality actions, which also include participation in the network of centres of excellence, mobility of teachers and students inside and outside Spain and dissemination actions.
On the other hand, the delegate has indicated that “the school is facing a scenario that poses great challenges to adapt and respond to the new educational demands of a changing and increasingly digitalized society.”
Therefore, the central government created the School Code 4.0 Program, which this year has approved to allocate 2.1 million euros to deploy them in La Rioja until August 2025.
“This significant amount will allow the regional government to acquire programming and robotic equipment in 116 schools and support teachers in learning so that they can teach these robotic programming and computational thinking contents to their Rioja students,” he said.
As for the PROA+ Program, which aims to offer support and guidance to students in situations of educational vulnerability, it receives support from the Government of Spain of 2.1 million euros.
For their part, the centers are committed to developing with these funds 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.
Other state funds that have been approved this year for La Rioja are:
- 950,000 euros for the creation of 154 public and free places in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education for children from 0 to 3 years.
- 293,000 euros in favour of students displaced by the war in Ukraine for whom the hiring of reinforcing teachers and conversation assistants, transport aids or the purchase of school supplies has been approved.
- 315,000 euros to help families in La Rioja to face the cost of books and school supplies.
- 64,200 euros for the Emotional Well-being Program in the educational field, which arose as a result of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed a series of side effects that have harmed the emotional and mental well-being and health of the population, especially those comprised in the groups of children and adolescents.
Accompaniment and Emotional Wellbeing Units
For Arraiz Nalda, one of the territorial cooperation programs that needs to be highlighted for its important usefulness is the one related to the Accompaniment Units.
Specifically, thanks to this program, with 366,000 euros, 9 units will be financed to prevent school absenteeism and reduce school dropout in the following Rioja schools:
- IES Práxedes Mateo Sagasta of Logroño
- IES Comercio de Logroño
- IES Cosme García de Logroño
- IES Francisco Tomás y Valiente de Fuenmayor
- IES Sculptor Daniel de Logroño
- IES Valle del Cidacos de Calsalvo
- SIES de Murillo de Murillo de Río Leza
- IES Gonzalo de Berceo de Alfaro
- Diversity Care Service
Another clear example of the usefulness of territorial cooperation is the Inclusive Education program, with 492,985 euros, which has been concretized in a call for 22 centers located in rural areas where places and schedules of teachers of therapeutic pedagogy, counselors and teachers of community services are expanded.