A total of 76,933 students and some 8,000 teachers of compulsory secondary education, baccalaureate, vocational training, adult education and elementary and professional music and dance education begin classes on Monday, September 16 in the province of Córdoba. On the 20th, it will be the turn of the special regime courses (Music, Dance, Plastic Arts, Design, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Drama and Languages), with 7,409 students.
This new route is marked by a new decrease in the number of students due to the drop in the birth rate with 25,000 fewer students between the stages of the second cycle of early childhood, primary, secondary and baccalaureate, the biggest drop in the historical series at the start of the course.
In the case of the ESO and the Baccalaureate, more than 9,000 students miss this course. Thus, since the 2018/19 academic year, the entire education system has lost ground 107,000 studentswhich represents a drop of almost 9% over the last five years.
Despite the decrease in the number of students, the Andalusian Government has insisted on continuing its commitment to consolidating the resources that have been added to the system and incorporating new ones throughout the social dialogue permanent to improve students’ attention.
Regarding the planning of the offer, the Ministry wanted to respond to the training demands of the future Logistics Base of the Army under construction in Córdoba, with the medium degrees of Mechanization (IES Zoco de Córdoba) and that of Electromechanics of Machines (IES Antonio Galán Acosta, in Montoro) and the Higher Diploma of Transport and logistics (IES Luis de Góngora in the capital, which will promote Andalusian talent and provide qualified personnel to this productive sector.
The PF offer in the province also contributes to the modernization and digitization of the productive fabric and SMEs. For this reason, it is linked to titles related to smart industry, sustainable development and digitalization, which will help to fill the deficit of specialists in these sectors with a high percentage of employability.
Smart industry, development and digitalization, among the new professional training offer
Thus, the increases in the groups of higher degrees of Development of Cross-platform applications and in web application development, at IES Florencio Pintado de Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo and at IES Marquis of Comares in Lucena, respectively, will allow students to study the double degree of these training cycles.
Added to this are professional families closely linked to the digitalization of the industry, such as the family of Trade and Marketingwhich is launching a new higher degree in international trade at IES El Tablero, in the capital Córdoba.
In a commitment to vocational training as a driving force social transformationTraining cycles have been strengthened in areas characterised by a risk of social exclusion, with a school dropout and with specific employment needs. A clear example of this is the average degree of Hairdressing and Cosmetics Hair care at IES Guadalquivir in the capital.
Attention to diversity
This year, the Council will also strengthen the resources dedicated to attention to diversity, another of its strategic axes, with the creation of more than a hundred new classrooms. Special education and to support integration: since 2018, Andalusia has had 952 new classrooms of this type. In addition, for the first time, 199 schools located in areas of social transformation will have a full-time exclusive advisor.
Compared to them, some measures stand out, such as, for example, the transformation of traditional specific basic vocational training programmes into basic vocational training diplomas aimed at the group of people with special educational needs.
In Córdoba there are a total of five basic vocational training diplomas aimed at the most vulnerable students who will have the necessary material and human resources to obtain their diploma: Carpentry and Furniture (IES Fuensanta, from Córdoba), Kitchen and Catering (IES Juan de Aréjula, from Lucena), Accommodation and Laundry (IES Gran Capitán, from Córdoba), Agrogardening and flower arrangement (IES Galileo Galilei, Córdoba) and Office IT (IES Antonio Gala, Palma del Río).
Regarding infrastructure, with a view to the 2024/25 academic year, a total of 27 works in centers educational institutions in Cordoba, with a budget of almost 4 million euros. More than 11,700 students enrolled in these centers will benefit from these interventions and their facilities will be expanded or improved.
Among them, seven actions of the Plan of Bioclimatization and Renewable Energy, already completed in the province of Córdoba. Specifically, bioclimatization systems have been installed, by adiabatic cooling, in a total of 99 educational centers in the province (in 93 of them with the support of photovoltaic solar panels for electricity production) with an investment close to 27.5 million of euros.
Likewise, eight improvement actions accessibility in the centres, through work aimed at removing barriers, installing lifts and creating or adapting toilets for pupils with special needs, as well as five actions aimed at providing the centres with specific classrooms for special education.
