/ Town Hall
Wednesday 7th September 2022
THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERN VISITS THE MUNICIPAL PUBLIC PRE-EDUCATION SCHOOL OF SANTA PONÇA, ONE OF THE 10 CENTRES OF THE CALVIÀ PUBLIC NETWORK WHERE MORE THAN 230 2-3-YEAR-OLD STUDENTS WILL BENEFIT FROM THE GRATUITY
Calvià Town Hall announces that all Calvià students within this age group will benefit from free of charge education
President's statements
Mayor's statements
The president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, visited on Wednesday, together with the mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, the municipal pre-education school of Santa Ponça. The visit took place a few days before the 2022-23 school year begins, the first year in which the 2-3 age stage education will be free of charge throughout the public and complementary network of nursery schools in the Balearic Islands.
The visit was also attended by the regional minister for Education and Vocational Training, Martí March, as well as the deputy mayor for Education and Employment, Olga Granados; the deputy mayor and councillor of Santa Ponça, Nati Francés, and the manager of the Municipal Institute of Education and Libraries, Borja Martorell.
The centre, which is part of the municipal public network of Calvià pre-education schools, was completely reformed in 2019. In total, in the 10 municipal nursery schools there are 231 students who will benefit from the measure recently announced by the Govern.
Francina Armengol stressed that "free education for the 2-3 years age stage is a measure that will help many families on the Islands, even more in these difficult times such as the ones we are experiencing due to the war in Ukraine and inflation, but it is not a circumstantial measure. It is a new right that has come to stay and that will be extended in the next legislature with the gratuity to the entire 0-3 age group. This is our commitment. We start with 2-3 years because it is the stage that affects more families.
"From the first day we have worked with the clear idea that we had to turn the 0-3 age stage into a true educational stage to improve children's learning, improve equity and improve the conciliation of families, especially women." "We created the complementary network, we are building and expanding new 0-3 age stage centres and we are investing more resources than ever in democratic history to create new places, sustain those created and convert nursery places to educational ones," added the president.
Finally, the head of the executive has pointed out that «investing in education from a young age is a shared task and I want to thank Calvià Town Hall for its commitment to this educational stage. I want to encourage all town halls, as Calvià does, to get involved.
On his behalf, the mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, explained that "Calvià has been committed to quality public education for years, with an excellent network of 10 municipal nurseries, subsidising between 30 and 70% of the cost for families. Now -he has announced- thanks to the free teaching period promoted by the Govern in the 2-3 year age stage, in Calvià we will be able to bet on total free of charge education in this section to help families in their work-life balance and education of their children. It is an extraordinary initiative of the Govern to which Calvià strongly supports».
Gratuity 2-3
The operating expenses of the 2-3 year age stage classrooms will be covered in the next academic year 2022/23, for both the public and private nurseries that make up the complementary network, advancing in the Government's commitment to adapt the 0-3 age stage to the other educational stages.
To do this, 18.6 million euros will be invested, to cover the operating costs of each 2-3 year age stage classroom in the ordinary school hours of this educational stage, 4 hours for 10 months. This means 45.000 euros per year per 2-3 year age stage classroom to cover the cost of 18 students aged 2-3 per month for 10 months.
In total, it is expected to reach 5.274 2-3-year-old students in 158 centres on the Islands. The modules will cover the cost of 293 2-3 classrooms of public centres and the complementary network.
From now on, therefore, the public nursery schools and those of the complementary network will involve zero cost for families. Extracurricular activities are not covered, as in the rest of the educational stages, but there are specific grants for dining and other concepts.
