The education counselor, Valle Ares, has reiterated that the students of the comarca in the Salamanca region of the Sierra de Francia have access to the full range of post-compulsory education offerings, a guarantee that she has extended to all students in Castilla y León. In contrast to this position, the PSOE parliamentary representative, Miguel Ángel Luengo Becerro, has denounced the existence of a real “territorial discrimination” in the rural area.
In her first appearance before the Plenary Session of the Cortes of Castilla y León after taking office in place of María Pardo, Ares has detailed that the regional government provides this access through the school transport service to the reference Secondary Education Institute in La Fuente de San Esteban, free accommodation at the Fernando de Rojas residence in Salamanca, and the option of distance learning, all supported by a system of specific grants.
The head of Education has stressed that “it is not viable” or “realistic” to implement all levels of education in each locality, due to factors such as the minimum number of required students or the structure of the business fabric. She has specified that only nine students in the fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) requested to study A-levels (Bachillerato) in the comarca—a figure, as she has argued, that prevents offering all modalities and subjects with suitable quality standards.
Despite this, Ares has emphasized that all students “have guaranteed access to a complete range of post-compulsory education offerings.”
By contrast, the Socialist parliamentary representative Miguel Ángel Luengo Becerro has stated that the comarcas of the Sierra de Francia and Ledesma are the only ones that “lack the opportunity” to pursue post-compulsory education in their immediate surroundings, which forces many families to face additional costs for housing and maintenance so that their children travel to Salamanca.
Luengo Becerro has asked for a general A-level (Bachillerato) to be launched with small groups, or, failing that, an intermediate-level vocational training cycle linked to tourism or the environment, adapted to the characteristics of the area.
The PSOE representative has reproached the regional government for “using” the number of students as an argument not to implement these educational services, something, in his view, contradicts the commitments signed by the regional executive in defense of the rural environment.
In the final reply, Ares has indicated that "he would not want to think" that the intention of the Socialist Group is to open a debate that turns the fight against depopulation and education policy into centers of confrontation. He has insisted on the advisability of cooperating and has extended a hand to the Socialist representative to "join together" efforts and rethink the relationship between the urban and rural spheres.
At the same time, Ares has insisted on the importance of ensuring the sustainability of public services and resources, reminding that they are not limitless and that they must be managed "with the utmost rigor".