The PSOE warns that the millionaire grant from the Ministry could be lost if the procedures are not streamlined
The new course must start with 832 new public nursery places, according to the plan designed by the Ministry of Education to use the strong investment of the Ministry, and which contemplates the creation of 4,000 new positions until 2025 with an investment of more than 40 million euros . However, several municipalities have denounced their concern about the “delays” in the organization of the new services, which in part fall on the consistories, but depend on the Ministry for their implementation. The Ministry of Education, meanwhile, ensures that everything is going according to plan and does not fear delays.
The investment, which should be a boost for the current meager supply of places in the Region, which only covers 20% of Murcian children in that age group, with the second lowest rate of schooling at that stage in the country, It contemplates three lines of action: the schooling of 2-year-old children in Infant and Primary schools (barely 500 places, which will not begin to be enabled until the following year, in 2023); the construction of eight new municipal schools (another half a thousand places) and the incorporation of 36 child care centers and points already in operation to the municipal networks of children’s schools, which concentrates the bulk of the places, with more than 3,000 . It is in this third line that the municipalities come into play, which must reconvert the so-called CAI and PAI (child care centers and points) into nursery schools. «The delay and the lack of foresight are tremendous; We sent all the documentation months ago, and we are waiting for a response, but at this point it seems difficult to comply with the administrative times, ”complains Antonia Pérez, Councilor for Education of the Lorca City Council.
«The delays are going to generate chaos and confusion at the beginning of the course; We have had to blindly advance the registration process, but later problems will arise because there are families who will comply with the income resources and have not requested the place because they do not know if they have the help, ”also denounces the Councilor for Education of Santomera, María José Medina, who assures that the town halls of Alhama de Murcia and Cieza are in the same situation. The plan designed by the Ministry contemplates that the 36 child care centers (CAI) and child care points (PAI) already in operation in various municipalities of the Region are incorporated into the network of public schools.
These centers are municipal, but in many cases they are managed by cooperatives or companies, and receive aid from the councils, which means that the prices are lower than those of private nurseries. Many of these places, once they are converted into municipal schools, will be financed by the Community from next year, but the process has not been completed, some consistories denounce, due to the delay of the Ministry. “The lack of foresight is tremendous, and it is going to cause us problems,” complains Medina.
The socialist deputy Antonio José Espín goes further and warns that “if the administrative procedures are not streamlined, the subsidies could be lost.”
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