“The ratios of students per classroom have had a significant drop because we have been, year after year, trying to put the focus on Education, providing a greater budget to Melilla to be able to invest it in a greater number of professionals, that is to say more human resources and, of course, also in more spaces, with the inauguration of centers such as the ‘Encarna León’ or the Secondary Education Institute ‘Virgen de la Victoria’. These are commitments that the Government of Spain has made since the beginning of its term, six years ago, and that we want to continue implementing.”
The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, has valued the work carried out by the Government of Spain since 2018 that “is working tirelessly to continue improving the results, to continue improving the working conditions of all the staff that provides service in the different cycles, levels, stages, and also to provide a higher quality of education in Melilla and that this makes a positive result for all students”.
The highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city has attended the CEIP ‘Anselmo Pardo Alcaide’ for the official inauguration of the academic year 2024-2025, accompanied by the Provincial Director of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFPyD), Juan Ángel Berbel, the Director of the center, Irene Roldán, and part of the team of both the Provincial Directorate and the CEIP.
Moh has stressed that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez will continue to bet on Education in Melilla with “tangible facts”, so “we want to continue demonstrating that it is an important area”. “Education is the tool that ultimately changes society and investing from the initial stages is fundamental,” he said.
In his speech he also alluded to Vocational Training (FP), and to the fact that there are 1,200 more students in Melilla compared to 2018 as well as 29 more training cycles. “This is also a sign of the support and, above all, of the implement that wants to be made with VET,” he said.
“It is something essential in a city, especially like ours, and therefore we are going to continue betting on this type of education, implementing training cycles, since that, in the end, has its reflection in a number of students who are going to continue being linked to education and are going to continue training to find a place in the labor market,” he said.
The Delegate has also referred to the drop in the percentage of school failure and has advanced that, “in that line we will continue working, for a public and quality education. And that is demonstrated and reflected by investments in our city.”
“We will continue to work to continue improving in terms of ratio, in terms of human resources, in terms of space resources and, of course, improving the working conditions of all teachers, all staff and public employees who provide services in the administration, in the area of education,” he said.
More than 2,000 teachers
The Provincial Director of Education, for his part, has encrypted the educational community of the city into 23,000 students and more than 2,000 teachers. And he explained that 450 interim and interim employees have been hired to reinforce the work of the officials.
In addition, it has advanced that the long-term replacements, which will be carried out from September 20 to 25, to cover the needs that arise in the centers in the form of retirements or long-term leave.
Berbel, in her speech to the media, recalled that this Monday began the course in both Infant, Primary and Secondary, in its two stages, both compulsory and post-compulsory. Thus, it has reported that, in total, some 17,518 students joined on Monday and that, today, the course in Professional Training, Artistic Teachings, Conservatory and Adult Education formally begins.
In the case of the Official School of Languages, he pointed out, it is delayed a few days due to the certification tests in its extraordinary call, which is the only teaching that maintains it in the month of September and will begin once the groups have already evaluated and organized.
“Right now we are in an extraordinary process and the number of students we have in each stage is estimated”, he explained, and pointed out that, in Early Childhood Education, in the second cycle, which is from 3 to 6 years that is managed directly from the Provincial Directorate, “we are going to have about 100 students less than last year, and they are going to be about 2,800 students”, he said. And the ratio, due to the increase in the educational infrastructure, “means that, having 28 and a half students in the 2018-2019 academic year, we are currently below 22 students per class”, he said.
However, Berbel has indicated that, although there are fewer students in the classroom, “there are more students who need support, such as the students of Attention to Diversity”, and has given as an example that, in recent years, the disorder with autism spectrum has proliferated. This, he said, “requires that other support profiles”, hence the maintenance of Child Education Technicians, who since the 2015-2016 academic year were operational in the city, and who have expanded from 65 to 75 compared to the previous Executive, and who yesterday joined the centers.
Likewise, in the 2022-2023 academic year, “we saw the need to support students with some kind of functional diversity, the role of caregivers, of people with Dependency Care,” he added. Therefore, 25 caregivers were also incorporated yesterday to the centers, “which go one for each open classroom and most of them for Queen Sofia.”
As for the Primary Education stage, it has indicated that there will be about 250-300 fewer students than last year, with the figure being about 7,070 students. “In primary school, the ratio has also dropped from 29.5, which was what we had in the 2018-2019 academic year, to 24 students per classroom in public schools,” he said.
In Secondary, the ratio is 29.6, 29.7 and at this stage Melilla will have about 140 students more than last year, which means about 5,100 students.
In Baccalaureate, he added, there is also an increase in students, with about 1,400 students and the ratio is going to be around 29 students per classroom, while in Vocational Training (FP) the extraordinary period ends on October 11, with which the current data are estimates, although there have never been problems in the ratio. “First, the most demanded cycles are filled at the beginning of the course, around 30, we even allow 10% more, but then, when moving to Second, there are people who do not successfully exceed the first year, since the ratio that is taken as global in the cycle is around 18-19 students in the workshops,” he said.
In addition, with regard to FP, the Provincial Director has stressed that the number of 3,000 students will be exceeded. “With regard to the 2018-2019 academic year, we are talking about 1,200 more students,” he said. “We have 29 more professional degrees implemented in the city since the 2019-2020 academic year, and that makes the offer considerably diversified,” he said.
In the case of other courses, such as the School of Languages, “there is usually a fork of 1,100 to 1,150 students enrolled”, he reported, while in Adult Education there are about 900 people enrolled in each of the two four-month courses in which these courses are sequenced. And in the case of the Conservatory of Professional, it usually involves between 250 and 270 students.
Thanks to the educational community
The Delegate of the Government and the Provincial Director of Education have conveyed their gratitude to all the teachers for their work, they have wished them the best for this course 2024-2025.
A gratitude that they have extended to families and, in general, to the entire educational community. “The challenge is complicated to launch a new course and we have a great team of professionals in Melilla who do it year after year so that everything develops with the normality that this requires,” said Moh.
The head of the Delegation, in addition, wanted to take advantage of her visit to the Anselmo Paro, to convey all her affection to the team of professionals who work in it “to whom I know and know of his dedication”.