La Mola primary school becomes Formentera's first in network of socially-conscious schools in Pityuses

foto signatura-conveni-xarxaThe Formentera Council's social welfare office reports that La Mola's primary school, CEIP El Pilar de la Mola, has joined a network of area schools that promote engagement with social causes. The school is the first on Formentera to join Xarxa de Centres Educatius Solidaris—a network (xarxa) of "schools in solidarity" that is backed by an Eivissa-Formentera cooperation fund. The school's incorporation in the Xarxa was made official with the signing of a partnership agreement between the fund and the school.

Vanessa Parellada, who is the social welfare secretary and the cooperation fund's deputy chair, hailed CEIP El Pilar's inclusion on the network, saying it would “put pupils in contact with schoolchildren from other cultures and get them involved in work with a social impact”. Parellada characterised the initiative as “enlisting a range of educational development strategies to connect children who live and study thousands of miles apart”.

Xarxa de Centres Educatius Solidaris

The Xarxa was created in 2008 to consolidate efforts by the cooperation fund, the Fons Pitiús de Cooperació, to promote development education at local schools. It focuses on schools committed to creating a more just world, a world where people's fundamental rights are respected and where the environment is respected as well, preaching “inclusiveness and the transformative power of education to create global citizens through everyday educational action”.

Guiding the Xarxa's crusade are a series of commitments, adhered to by the Fons and member schools. CEIP El Pilar makes a number of promises, including to write transformational learning and creating global citizens into their school's overarching vision; to create a committee that will interface with the Fons and take up the task of making related activities more exciting and dynamic; participate in Xarxa meetings; stage workshops and teach workshop content to pupils.

CEIP El Pilar promises other action as well. For one, to donate money, though no minimums are dictated, to benefit infrastructure and quality learning in the Nicaraguan town of Palacagüina. Another part of the school's pledge involves engaging pupils in a yearly research project on a topic of their choosing, and an exchange project with the sister school in Nicaragua.

Today Xarxa de Centres Educatius Solidaris is home to nine primary schools on Eivissa—CEIP Sant Antoni, CC Santíssima Trinitat, CEIP Santa Gertrudis, CEIP S'Olivera, CEIP Puig d'en Valls, CEIP Sant Jordi, CEIP Torres de Balàfia, CEIP Labritja and CEIP Sa Joveria. CEIP El Pilar is the Xarxa's tenth member school, and the first on Formentera.