The Provincial Director of Education, Elena Fernández Treviño, has stressed that Vocational Training (VET) is going through an historic moment in Melilla, with a 35% growth in the number of students in the last six years, which means more than 1,200 students incorporated into this educational modality. “These are very important figures that set a record in the city,” he said.
The head of the Ministry of Education in our city, visited this Thursday together with the Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, the CIFP Reina Victoria Eugenia on the occasion of the inauguration of the Vocational Training (FP) course, where she welcomed the teachers and students who joined this Monday to the new school year, encouraging them to face it “with a lot of strength and a lot of encouragement”.
Fernández Treviño explained that this increase is linked to the expansion of the educational offer, with almost 30 new degrees implemented in recent years. This course also opens three new cycles: Basic Grade Automotive in ‘Reina Victoria Eugenia’, Hospitality and Tourism in the ‘Virgen de la Victoria’ and Flower Arrangements in the ‘Huerta Salama’. He also recalled that others such as Textile and Upholstery have been approved in the CIFP itself, which will be taught in future courses.
“A young man or woman from Melilla right now can qualify for many degrees, which is a great opportunity for the future,” said Fernández Treviño, who has linked this growth with the strong investment made in the city.
Collaboration of 300 companies
The Provincial Director, in her speech, has also highlighted the Dual Vocational Training, which offers job opportunities from the age of 15 or 16 and which already has the collaboration of almost 300 companies from Melilla. A high rate of job placement, he explained, is the result of the previous planning of a VET commission in which entrepreneurs, unions, teachers, the Ministry and the SEPE participate, in order to analyze the real needs of employability of the city.
“What we do is connect vocational training directly with the future of the city and its productive fabric,” he said. In this regard, he stressed that the FP has been consolidated as a firm commitment of the Government of Spain, linked to the economic and labor development of Melilla.
Finally, Fernández Treviño has highlighted the transformation of Vocational Training in recent years, which has gone from being considered a “second choice” to becoming “the main engine of employment and development of the city”. “We are shaping a 21st century VET connected with sustainability, digitalisation, inclusion and adapted to students with different abilities. In short, we are talking about an historic record that projects a future for the young people of Melilla”, he concluded.
Modernization of Queen Victoria Eugenia
Fernández Treviño has recalled the more than 18 million euros allocated to VET in Melilla in recent years, which have allowed the implementation of new classrooms and the provision of materials in all institutes, in addition to the Queen Victoria Eugenia Integral Vocational Training Centre.
He also referred to the refurbishment works being undertaken in Queen Victoria Eugenia, with performances in facades, perimeter walls and improvements in accessibility, which, in his words, “gives a seal of quality to current and future students.”
Precisely, the director of the CIFP ‘Reina Victoria Eugenia’, Pedro Cortés, has explained to the media the state of the refurbishment works carried out in the center, an action financed by the Ministry of Education that represents the largest investment in infrastructure in the 40 years of history of the institute.
Cortés, who has advanced that the completion of the works is estimated for next December, has indicated that, currently, the main building is in its final phase, which is expected to finish next month, after which work will begin on the outer perimeter.
Some works that include the complete renovation of the perimeter fence, the integral rehabilitation of the facades, as well as the improvement of the accessibility of the center. The replacement of the roof will also be undertaken, in a building that until now had only received punctual repairs, but never an investment of this magnitude.
According to Cortés, this is a “historic” intervention that will allow Queen Victoria Eugenia to modernize its facilities and offer a renewed educational environment adapted to current needs.