The 2024/25 school year officially ends this Friday. And now the accountability begins: what was fulfilled and what was pending of the promises of the administration. One of those, which is far from what had been announced, is for schools of the sustained with public funds. The president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the Minister of Education, Emilio Viciana, promised and checked from an investment of 12 million euros, but on the march the budget was reduced almost halfway, and the execution, in the absence of three weeks before the end of the classes, it was not even half, as reported by the. The number of students who had access to them also remained well below the data released at the beginning of the previous year: only 21% got a place.
In February 2024, ―To of study, languages, sports or artistic activities – and would open public schools on non -school days from the academic year 2024/25. At that time, the Governing Council approved 12 million euros, which would benefit, in theory, 310,000 students throughout the school year. But the data cannot be further, according to the information offered by the community at the request of the PSOE of Madrid.
In the bases of the project, the 12 million were divided into two items: by 2024 it was initially said that they would be 4.8 million and in 2025 the remaining 7.2 million would be used. However, the data reveal that the 2024 budget was abruptly reduced, remaining at 1,174,740, while by 2025 it dropped to 5 million. Simple: the budget went from 12 million – announced to hype and saucer – to 6.1 million.
But there are no bad news. Of that new budget, on May 31, only 19.11% (1,179,740 euros) had been executed and were in the process of execution 1,773,5 billion euros. In other words, three weeks since the school year was ended, and half of the entire budget (47.84%) were not executed, which had already been cut.
The number of students did not become close to what was announced. The press release ensured a benefit for 310,000 students, but the places offered for extracurricular ones only reached 21% of that number, 65,421 students from public and primary school public schools (CEIP), public schools of early, primary and secondary education (CEIPSO) and in the grouped rural schools (CRA), distributed in 80 municipalities of the entire community.
This newspaper consulted the yes the budget continued to be 12 million and the amount of places that were offered, but in the response they were limited to: “The budget approved for this aid program has been destined to the management by the municipalities of extracurricular activities during the school days and the opening of public schools on non -school days from September 1 until the beginning of the school year 2024/25 of days that the school calendar determines as non -teaching. Nor did they communicate the number of places, although they do know him, since they had to inform the PSOE days.
he has strongly criticized the project, which ended up being “a lie.” “Ayuso is filled with the mouth in defense of the family, but it is a lie. In the most expensive community to raise and where the work paths are longer, the institutional co -responsibility shines for its absence,” he told El País. And he has assured that the little possibility that students stay more at school recharges the work of women, mostly, who are in charge of them: “An equality law and an ambitious plan for conciliation that includes the socialist proposal of open schools are urgent. To be a mother in Madrid, it is not an act of courage.”
Professor of School Organization of the Faculty of Education of the Complutense University and recognized trade unionist of CC OO, recalled that the report of the envelope suggests that “expanding the effective school schedule with support measures and educational reinforcement could improve the performance of students at risk.” Even the report dictates that Spain should assess the possibility of following the example of Denmark or Portugal, which have taken measures accompanied by a greater offer of school canteens and extracurricular activities. “It has been shown to spend more time in the educational center allows to raise graduation rates and improve learning and other social and behavioral indicators,”
For Galvín, the lack of these spaces attempts against the right of education. “Instead of promoting extracurricular activities with sufficient financing that are based on evidence of good practices and with good results in the countries of our environment, they are dedicated to promoting other types of actions that lack these studies and that are at zero cost such as the imposition of continuous day.”
