Council bemoans missed opportunity by Govern to speed up construction of new Sant Ferran school

escolasferranThe Formentera Council, via its office of education and culture and councillor Sònia Cardona, expressed disappointment about “the great opportunity that the Govern Balear missed by not moving forward with plans to build the new Sant Ferran primary school.” Cardona's comments came just after an announcement last week by the regional autonomous government that it would apply a plan to improve the educational infrastructure that exists in the Balearics.

Drafted with the goal of improving the quality of educational facilities, the improvement plan (Pla de millora d'infraestructures educatives) is backed by a budget of 27.7 million euros, a credit line provided by the European Investment Bank.

Councillor Cardona's disappointment came upon inspection of the third item on the plan of action – improvement projects and new facilities construction. “We expected to see a clear reference made to the Sant Ferran school, but instead we saw five and a half million euros for a early-childhood and primary education centre [known as CEIP for centre educatiu infantil i primària] in Campos, three million for the remodel of a CEIP in Manacor and two million for improvements to the CEIP in Bunyola.

Cardona highlighted the fact that construction at “the three schools mentioned in the improvement plan is scheduled to be completed in 2016. Given the fact that Formentera does not even appear in the text of the plan, we can assume that construction in Sant Ferran might be delayed considerably.” According to Cardona, “the Department of Education of the Govern Balear would have had us believe that the [Sant Ferran] school's construction was imminent. However, the reality is that the project does not even exist. The omission of Formentera in the Pla de millora d'infraestructures educatives indicates that construction will most likely not begin within this legislative session.”

Cardona reminds us that at the most recent debate (held in June) in which the state of the island was discussed, all of the political groups on the Council agreed to urge the regional government in Palma to accelerate construction of the Sant Ferran school. The Council has already located and turned over land for the new school, and these parcels have already been doted with the infrastructure necessary to proceed with construction.