Alicante Families Complain About Lack of Information on New Pla-Garbinet School Two Days Before Enrollment Deadline

The deadline to apply for an Infant school place for the next academic year ends this Wednesday. With two days left until this deadline, families in Alicante are complaining about the lack of information from the City Council and the Department of Education regarding the new school number 56 Pla-Garbinet, which will begin operating in prefabricated facilities this coming school year.

The Federation of Associations of Mothers and Fathers of Students of Alicante (FLAMPA Alicante) has highlighted several concerns about the school project. These issues, they claim, have been brought to the attention of the City Council and the Department of Education, and have yet to be addressed. It is worth noting that the construction of this public school—the 56th in the city of Alicante—aims to alleviate pressure on educational centers in nearby neighborhoods such as El Pla-Garbinet, Carolinas, and Gran Vía.

One of the main sources of uncertainty is the lack of information about the construction timeline for the new permanent school. Parents are requesting to know the expected start and completion dates of the works, as well as the estimated timelines for each phase of the project. They consider it essential to have this information to adequately plan their children's schooling in the coming years.

Another aspect that particularly concerns families is the plan for student placement during the construction period. Although the use of prefabricated classrooms on the same plot has been announced, it is unclear whether temporary relocations to other facilities are planned and what measures will be taken to prevent the construction from interfering with students' daily lives. The educational community insists that any solution must ensure the continuity of teaching in dignified and stable conditions.

Furthermore, families demand that their active participation in the design and planning of the new school be facilitated. They request that parents, teachers, and students themselves be able to express their opinions and make contributions on fundamental issues of the future center: from architectural design and learning spaces to the type of school day to be implemented (continuous or split), the availability of dining services, or the linguistic model that will govern the center.

"We have conveyed these new concerns to both the City Council and the Department of Education. We hope they respond before the enrollment period ends, and that families can register with all the information about the new school," expresses the entity that groups 28 AMPAs in the city of Alicante.

Families have also denounced the inactivity on the plot where the new provisional school is planned to be installed, specifically on the land located between Polop and Beniarbeig streets. According to representatives of the AMPAs, as of May 12, the site remains uncleared, and no work has begun to prepare it for the arrival of prefabricated classrooms.

The lack of movement on the site has caused concern among families, who fear that the planned schedule will not be met. In this context, they consider it "rushed" that enrollments, scheduled between June 18 and July 2, are carried out with a center that has not yet begun to be physically established.