The Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Pilar Alegría, has announced that her department has drawn up a "climate adaptation" plan for schools that was expected to cost more than 200 million euros and that she will agree with the autonomous communities once they have Approved the General State Budgets for 2023.
“Now, and more living this climate crisis that the state achieved, one of the new lines that we want to adopt in that future budget is, indeed, an important line with a considerable amount of millions of euros to be able to climate-friendly educational through, as I say, of a (territorial) cooperation program”, the minister advanced in an interview with Europa Press.
In this sense, he points out that the objective of the plan is that, both for the summer and for the winter, educational centers are better and more prepared to be able to protect students in a much safer way. It will be discussed with the autonomous communities because, as he reminds him, education is autonomous compatibility. Therefore, explain that the distribution criteria will work together, depending on the number of centers or the number of students. "And from then on, that distribution of funds would be done very quickly," he commented.
In all cases, to say that the most modern educational centers, and especially those of the last decade, are only climatically adapted to ser centers. However, he points out that in Spain there are schools that are more than 100 or even 150 years old. "Thinking especially in these educational centers, we want to launch this new territorial cooperation plan to adapt the educational centers to the climate", he insists.
On the other hand, the minister has not specified whether the next measures that the Government plans to adopt after the first energy saving decree will affect educational centers or not, after they will be left out of the first measures established by the Executive to alleviate the energy dependence on Russian gas and in solidarity with other European countries.
"Right now I am not able to specify whether when September arrives there will be any specific action on (educational) buildings", he acknowledged while highlighting the assumption of "voluntary responsibility" by citizens to deal with this situation.
Regarding the new course and the announcement by Andalusia and Murcia that they will continue with the LOE textbooks, the previous educational law, has announced that the educational laws are fulfilled "you like them more or less". In addition, although textbook publishers have guaranteed that they will arrive on time for the new course, they have also warned that many regional decrees are yet to be approved.
In this sense, Alegría has pointed out that the Government has approved the decrees that correspond to it and that now the autonomous communities are the ones that have to deploy the corresponding part. "Textbooks have to adapt to the new education decrees for all educational stages," he said.
However, it has also been made clear that textbooks are voluntary pedagogical material and that it is the teachers and the management team of the educational centers who voluntarily and under academic freedom choose and decide which textbooks are going to be used. also educational centers. "From the Popular Party in this case a profoundly negative debate was also introduced for various issues", he pointed out.
He also recalled that this voluntary nature has been applied since 1998 by a decision of the then PP Government and, specifically, of the then Minister of Education, Esperanza Aguirre, for which he has asked for "prudence" when making certain demonstrations.
“We must value and respect the professionalism of teachers and professors in this country, who are, as I say, those who decide and who choose the use of textbooks as well as any other pedagogical material that educational centers can use” , has added.
