The Sergio Alonso Foundation, Acuorum Foundation and Foresta Foundation have launched this October a plan to plant trees in educational centers in order to generate natural shade spaces in Tirajana schools due to the importance of increasing green spaces in these facilities. With the technical support of an architecture studio, the foundations are working on an agreement with the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council in which the entities commit to carrying out specific actions initially in three schools in the municipality during this academic year and the council will commits to the maintenance of trees.
There are needs in 13 educational centers in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, two of them do not have green spaces or trees, and another five centers do not have green spaces, they are the object of this social measure. The educational centers that participate in this process are Juan Grande, Cercado de Espino, Las Dunas, El Tablero, Pepe Monagas, San Fernando de Maspalomas, Oasis de Maspalomas, El Matorral, Pancho Guerra, Santa Águeda, Alcalde Marcial Franco, Aldea Blanca and Tunte.
In order to know in advance the state of the educational centers, the foundations carried out a previous report in the last academic year in which they were questioned about the existence of green areas and their current state. These 13 preschool, primary and secondary educational centers in the municipality participated in the report.
42% of the centers responded that they did not have green areas in their center. While the remaining 58% did have them. Likewise, of those who responded affirmatively, two schools stated that they only had flower beds or areas in poor condition.
When asked about the existence of trees in their schools, 83% stated that they had a tree at school. Even so, most of them insisted on its poor condition, its non-suitability for an educational center, mostly due to the presence of palm trees, or that they had registered maintenance problems. Regarding the needs of the center regarding the presence of green areas, all the schools agreed on the need to increase the presence of natural areas, especially to have trees suitable for educational centers in order to generate shadows. All of them also claimed the need to increase training in sustainability to improve awareness about the importance of trees.
The three foundations have worked on this initiative in order to improve the quality of life of the minors who attend these educational centers every day and to put this issue on the table of the administrations. A demand that is not new and that is already included in the Canary Islands Infrastructure Plan 2018-2025, which among its priorities is the installation of roofs and shade areas in the face of the obsolescence of educational infrastructure. A demand that has been made by parents' associations, as well as by teachers.
