PALMA
THE regional ministry for Education and Culture has spent a third more than it originally intended on schools and education centres since the present Balearic government came to power.
Making assessments yesterday at government offices in Palma of the money spent on school infrastructure, regional President Francesc Antich and his Minister for Education Bartomeu Llinas, said that instead of 120 million euros being spent on 57 projects, 160 million euros has been allocated by the ministry to 84 projects.
Antich was quick to give assurances that the extra money was not spent on regional education because of bad planning but rather that the budget was purposely extended. In total, he said, provision will be made for another 5'500 places at Balearic infant, primary and secondary schools with the creation of 3'400 jobs.
The President said that an important part of public money spent on infrastructure and technology targets education. He further claimed that spending by government in this sphere has now reached historic levels in the Balearics.
Minister Llinas highlighted the sum spent on school buildings and equipment in Manacor, Llucmajor and Ibiza where he acknowledged that there had been insufficient infrastructure.
In Manacor alone, 13.69 million euros had been invested - 8.09 million of them on the construction of the first phase of the Nou Son Fangos secondary school. Another secondary school is to be built at a cost of 5.36 million and the Son Macia school for the sum of 3.7 million. Llinas said that 675'000 euros will additionally be spent on enlarging the Simo Ballester school.
Spending in Llucmajor has reached 7.43 million euros. In Ibiza sums invested are currently totalling 35.57 million with another 23.98 million euros in the pipeline.
President Antich reported that 24 new schools had been built during the term of office of the present Balearic government and that 60 had been enlarged or reformed in 32 municipalities around the Islands.
New technology had formed an important part of the ministry's priorities, said Antich, with 37 million euros being spent on bringing computers into school premises.
The President pointed to the essential work that the Education ministry had undertaken in promoting infant education. He said the government had spent 15 million euros on nursery schools, creating 2'651 infant places for three year-olds and under. The policy, said Antich, aimed to see early schooling becoming part of the education process and pointed out that it had created 6'880 jobs at a time when the Balearics was accutely feeling the effects of the economic crisis.
The regional Education ministry has done an excellent job in keeping schooling a top priority, especially at a time when tightening of finances has meant difficulties in all areas of government, said Antich.
The President said be believed that a demanding and solid education from the earliest days was the only way forward to real academic achievement and high competitivity.
He said that government spending in education is the most coherent response on offer to the economic crisis.
Minister Llinas said that in just a few days, an agreement is to be reached between local town councils and school centres in the Balearics on the upkeep of buildings and installations.
Whilst Antich and Llinas were reporting on the successes of the Education ministry, a demonstration was being held by about a dozen members of the Independent Teaching Union Federation in front of the government offices of the Consultat del Mar in Palma.
The protest was against cuts which have recently been imposed on the salaries of teachers.
The Minister had justified the curtailment as it had been directed at all government workers right across the country. It would have been impossible to cut some people's salaries and not others, Llinas explained.
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