The new Children’s and Primary Education Center (CEIP) ‘Encarna León’ began operating this morning with more than 300 students and 50 professionals who were in modular classrooms.
The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, accompanied by the Provincial Director of Education, Juan Ángel Berbel, and the director of the center, Adriana Marcos, has shown her satisfaction to see the center not only finished but launched since “it comes to respond to a demand of society that we have been coming for a long time.”
“The Government is clear, to lower the ratio there are no magic recipes, there is work, there is perseverance and there is commitment”, stressed the highest representative of the Government of the Nation in our city, who has made it clear that this is what the Executive of Pedro Sánchez has been doing during these almost six years at the head of the Government: More infrastructure and more human resources.
Something, he has made clear that “it has translated into better numbers, a lower ratio, and also this has a positive impact on the results of our students and, therefore, on the quality of teaching”.
Moh recalled that in 2019 “we were talking about a high ratio that has been decreasing progressively”, and he referred not only to the educational center that has begun its journey today but also to the Institute of Secondary Education, Baccalaureate and FP (IES) ‘Virgen de la Victoria’ that was launched several courses ago.
These schools, he stressed, “are just one more sign of the Government’s commitment to continue improving educational quality, teaching, public quality here in our city.”
4 years of intense work
Juan Ángel Berbel, for his part, recalled that it has been “an incredible work” that has been carried out in these four years, since the concretization began in February 2020. “These are four very intense years of work that finally crystallizes today with the effective occupation of the property, once we had the first occupation license on March 14,” he said.
We are talking about an infrastructure that has an investment of 12 million euros –between the amount of construction and its provision– with a total of 9,663 m2 designed to respond to more than 1,000 people when it is in full operation.
Thus, as reported by Berbel, this macro-educational center has 12 standard classrooms in Early Childhood Education, with 5 toilets in common areas, 24 standard classrooms, 8 for each cycle in Primary Education, 8 classrooms for desdoubles and support, 2 music workshop classrooms, 2 computer rooms, 1 multipurpose classroom, library, 1 resource area, 1 gym with built-in wardrobe and its corresponding toilets and showers.
For the administration area it has a management office, another for head of studies, secretary, teachers’ room, teachers’ toilet, space for AMPAS and students, concierge and reprography. As common services, it has a warehouse, toilets, non-teaching lockers, a room of facilities and a cleaning and garbage room.
The total built area amounts to 5,988 m², to which must be added as complementary spaces a dining room of 340 m² for more than 300 diners in two shifts and a kitchen of 100 m² to supply the requested service.
As for outdoor spaces, it has 12 outdoor classrooms for children’s education, four children’s play areas, two multisport courts, 36 parking spaces that we have here on top, a landscaped area and orchard.
The CEIP began with the students that it had in Modulated Classrooms, that is to say with 309 students and about 40 teachers, to which we must add the administration and services staff, the cleaning and maintenance team. In total, it’s about 400 people.
Asked about the future of the Modular Classrooms, Berbel recalled that ownership of them passes to the Autonomous City, however he has shown his desire that this space continue to have an educational use, especially when this infrastructure has involved an investment of 2.5 million euros and that it still has a useful life period of around 20-25 years.
In fact, he recalled that in this area there are no children’s schools in the 0-2 age group and, therefore, “an important response would be given, taking into account that last year 357 families were left unattended in that age group.”
A lot of illusion
The director of the ‘Encarna León’, Adriana Marcos, has pointed out that this is a very important day for the whole center. “We welcome it with great enthusiasm”, he acknowledged and explained that the transfer of Modular Classrooms to the new school “we have done it in record time” and for this “all have been involved, both the parents who, for two days, have stayed with the children in the house, as well as the teachers and all the staff, both fixed and Employment Plans, who have done the transfer of all things”.
“We hope it will be a good entrance since it is a school that offers many services and many improvements with respect to where we were”, said the director.