THE the president of the provincial government, Maria Chivite, arrives late. Two weeks after the start of the school year In Navarre, María Chivite celebrated this Friday Wednesday the course opening the school, in an event full of propaganda.
The President and her Minister of Education, Carlos Gimeno, We came to Falces to find out about the activity of the Doña Álvara Álvarez Public Schoolduring which, in addition to visiting some educational facilities of the center, they visited the recently inaugurated nursery school of the municipality, located in the educational premises of the school, and which already welcomes a total of 27 children this year.
Maria Chivite highlighted the improvements that are being made in public nursery schools. “We have doubled the budget item for the funding municipal nursery schools – the President stressed – and we have, for the first time, a regional decree which contains a programme for teaching the complete cycle of Early childhood education. We hope to exceed 1,400 new places, which will be integrated into the system by the end of 2025.”
President Chivite also referred to other improvements that will be incorporated this year in the rest of the cycles. “The offer of subsidized canteens has been extended for the 175 days of classes, including the months of September and June. We have extended the right to aid for meals to students from municipalities with an extreme and intense risk of depopulation. And some 15,000 students will use the school transport network.
All this, stressed María Chivite, to face the new challenges facing educational systems. “We are living in a profoundly transformative time. Digitalization, innovation, sustainability require a high level of education to face them, on the part of talents and training And audacity and public-private collaboration to make them effective. Because, in the words of the President, “Education is a social axis of the first order. “A pillar for equal opportunities, quality of life, personal growth, social development, critical thinking and the strengthening of democratic values.”
The 0-3 year cycle, an example of collaboration
Precisely, the commitment of the Provincial Government to the free first cycle of early childhood education from 0 to 3 years in public nursery schools throughout the Provincial Community is one of the great novelties of the recently started school year. The Falces nursery school is, in this sense, an example of co-responsibility of local entities in the creation infrastructure educational programs of the first cycle of Early Childhood Education advancing jointly with the Regional Executive towards the universalization of the cycle. Kindergarten created at the initiative of the municipality of Falces with financing from European MRR funds under the supervision of the Infrastructure Service of the Ministry of Education.
Here new school From 0 to 3 years old, 13 boys and girls from 0 to 1 year old and 14 students from 1 to 2 years old now receive education, supervised by the center director, 3 educators and a part-time reinforcement educator.
The works of this nursery school, the property of which is held by Falces Town Hallwere carried out with a budget of 340,333.99 euros, of which 187,000 were financed by European MRR funds. They are located in the same building that houses the school, they have three rooms and their own independent access to the outdoor patio.
The Doña Álvara Álvarez de Falces school educates 233 students from a total of 133 families, with a significant mixture of cultures, customs and ways of life and its cloister is composed of 28 teachers. The center continuously offers the 2nd cycle of Early Childhood Education, Primary Education and the 1st and 2nd years of ESO. It is a PAI (English learning program) center with a multilingual section in the first cycle of ESO. The Laguntza program of good treatment and conflict prevention has been implemented, with emotional education very present in its methodology.
Innovative and inclusive, it works by context in Early Childhood and Primary in most subjects, it has its own reading plan, with the voluntary collaboration of the city itself and projects around Book Day, produces a school newspaper broadcast every week in streaming.
Visit to the center
The day began at noon, when President Chivite was received at the door of the educational center by the government delegate in Navarra, Alicia Echeverría, the Mayor of Falces, Gloria Olcozthe Minister of Education, Carlos Gimeno, the director of the public school, David Ruiz, the director of studies of the school, María Pilar Martínez, the director of the new nursery school, Isabel Garde as well as parliamentarians of the Parliament of the Foral Community.
The school principal conducted a short visit for the educational facilities, which included the new classrooms of the nursery school, a classroom for primary school students and a brief stay at the school library of the center. The director of the new nursery school of Falces and the educators who take care of the children who already receive education in their facilities explained to the President of Navarre how these first days of adaptation of the school are going, they showed him the facilities and they reported how the incorporation of the children has occurred.
Subsequently, the authorities looked into music class which is also the school assembly hall where the official opening ceremony of the school year took place.
113,688 students in Navarre
In total, 113,688 students started the 2024-2025 school year in Navarre, of which 76,176 enrolled in public network centers, representing 67% of the total.
Among the new features this year is the extension of the subsidized catering offer for the 175 days of the school year, including the months of September and June and every day of the week, having extended the right to dining room help to all diners in municipalities at extreme and intense risk of depopulation, by increasing food aid in ordinary canteens by €1, up to €5.2, and by continuing to subsidise ordinary canteens in municipalities with fewer than 1,500 inhabitants.
All these improvements allow to ensure the service with quality and price indicators over a time horizon of 5 years and generate a great stability in the sector. The 41 regional soup kitchens managed by the Ministry of Education will offer this course 1.3 million healthy menus to some 7,700 users
This course which begins now will be the first course in which all the modalities of school day, continuous, split and flexiblehave a regulatory regulation, a regional decree, which sets out their official characteristics.
Likewise, some 15,000 students will use Navarre’s extensive network of school transport lines, a figure similar to last year. The Department has organized 282 bus lines Throughout the province, it offers the service of 107 taxis to transport students to schools and institutes and provides individualized transportation assistance to a total of 1,071 preschool, primary and secondary school students.
