Junta carrying out nearly 297,000 euros of improvement works on Mojácar’s Bartolomé Flores infants and primary school

The Junta de Andalucía’s Education and Sport territorial delegate in Almería, Antonio Jiménez, has visited Mojácar’s Bartolomé Flores Infants and Primary School, where they are going to carry out improvement works principally on the woodwork, toilets and electrical installation, with an investment of 296,971 euros.

Accompanied by the head of the Planning and Schooling Service, Maribel Fernández, and Mojácar Mayor, Rosa María Cano, the delegate attended the start of some of the works being carried out through the Andalucía Public Agency for Education (APAE), which have a three-month completion period, the Junta indicated in a press release.

Jiménez told the school headmaster, Francisco Baraza, that the works, which will benefit close to 390 pupils, consist of replacing exterior woodwork with lacquered aluminium, replacing the entrance gates to the building with others made of steel with iron grills, the complete replacement of the electrical installation, as well as the complete renovation of the toilets and various works for the collection of rainwater.

The project has European co-financing through the REACT-EU funds, within the Andalucía FEDER 2014-2020 Operational Programme, as part of the European Union’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is part of the Education and Sport regional ministry’s Education Infrastructure Plan implemented by the Andalucía Public Agency for Education.

There is another action pending at the school, which is in the execution project, which will mean the extension of the educational areas and which entail the fitting out of a multi-purpose classroom through the redistribution of other teaching spaces (current library).

In addition, a porch will be closed in to create a Multipurpose Hall (SUM), a music room and a new library, and finally, the current music room will be divided to create two new small group classrooms, with the estimated budget being some 220,000 euros.

Jiménez noted during the visit that the regional ministry “is working on improving the province’s education centres”, but that “there was a lot to do”, and the reforms and extensions are being undertaken “prioritising actions, given that in Almería we have 680 educational centres.”

The headmaster thanked both administrations for visiting the school, because “logically this demonstrates the commitment to the local pupils, who are our best guarantee for the future”, while the Mojácar Mayor stated that the action “was an almost historic demand, which finally becomes a reality with the Popular Party, together with Ciudadanos in the regional government.

The Mayor also recalled that Mojácar Council and the school management have been requesting improvement and sustainability works on the building for nearly 20 years, and that the local authority has dealt with “the maintenance and most urgent problems, but the day has finally come when we can count on a building in keeping with the needs of our pupils.”