Education will hire more than 2,600 additional teachers for the next academic year in the Canary Islands
The Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Canary Islands Government will reinforce the teaching staff and will continue to apply security measures against Covid during the 2021-2022 academic year. Likewise, the use of a mask and the maintenance of a safety distance will be mandatory and specific plans will be implemented for transportation, school canteens and Physical Education.
The area counselor, Manuela Armas, announced today in Parliament that the General Directorate of Personnel plans to hire a total of 2,674 teachers, 1,658 due to the implementation of the Prevention Protocol against the virus in the educational centers of the Canary Islands, and 1,016 to improve attention to the diversity of students, which means 690 more professionals compared to the previous year in this field.
Among these 1,016, a total of 500 teachers will join the staff on a permanent basis, 338 on the occasion of the EsTEla program, 89 are intended for centers that are not integrated into this STEL but that will have educational reinforcement in linguistic, mathematical and digital skills, and another 89 will be necessary for the execution of PROA +. Likewise, the subordinate and auxiliary personnel of complementary services will be reinforced with new hires, as was also done in the previous year.
During her intervention, the counselor stressed that the course will once again be marked by the health guidelines for the prevention of contagions, among which are the use of a mask in closed places, as well as hydroalcoholic gel, the use of signage and the maintenance of interpersonal distance (which for the new school period will be 1.20 meters), which will lead to the splitting of groups. Likewise, specific protocols have been developed for transportation and school canteens and Physical Education.
"As was done in the past school year, the purpose of the Ministry will be to achieve maximum presence, and, consequently, the teaching and complementary activity of the centers is planned within the normality that COVID-19 allows us, contemplating the possibility of, before any health unforeseen event, being able to switch to online teaching, "said Armas.
The counselor recalled the measures presented last month to improve the attention to students in classrooms starting next year, which lead to a decrease in the number of students per group in non-university education. Thus, the ratio goes from 35 to 30 in Baccalaureate, from 30 to 27 in Compulsory Secondary Education (progressively from 1st grade), and from 15 to 12 in Basic Vocational Training. The mixed groups are eliminated in the last cycle of Primary Education and the ratios of the mixed groups in the rest of this educational stage fall from 23 to 20.
The Prevention and Organization Protocol for the development of face-to-face educational activity in non-university educational centers in the Canary Islands is available for consultation and download on the website of the Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands through East link.
The counselor indicated that "it is a living document that will gradually adapt to the circumstances and evolution of the pandemic."
