The return to school in Ceuta is still scheduled for September 8 despite several educational centers being affected by the migration crisis. The Government is preparing the eviction, cleaning, and conditioning of the facilities used during the emergency and a specific security plan for access.
The Ministry of Education has direct competencies over the Ceuta educational system, unlike what happens in the autonomous communities.
The concern now is to reach the start of the school year with the centers available and in normal operating conditions.
Reina Sofía and Príncipe Felipe, the two centers enabled
The Government agreed at the beginning of August to enable two public schools for the temporary care of minors, especially girls, at the request of the Ministry of Youth and Childhood.
The centers publicly identified as those resources were CEIP Reina Sofía and Príncipe Felipe, both in the neighborhood of Príncipe Alfonso.
One of them managed to accommodate more than a hundred minors during the first days of August.
The Government orders to empty the schools
The Government delegate, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, and the provincial director of Education, Cristóbal Guzmán, agreed last Saturday to empty the centers used during the emergency to proceed with their cleaning and conditioning.
The expressed goal of the Government is to ensure that classes can begin on September 8.
The cleaning plan will not be limited to the schools that functioned as reception devices. The Administration intends to extend the work to all educational facilities that need it.
Other schools have reported incidents
The crisis has also affected centers that are not necessarily part of the two official resources enabled for minors.
During August, incidents have been reported due to entries of people in various school facilities closed for the holidays. However, not all should be described as "official shelters", because in several cases they involve unauthorized access.
This difference is important to avoid mixing the two formally enabled schools with other centers that have suffered occasional occupations.
A visit from Education before the start of the school year
The Ministry has sent this week to Ceuta the Secretary of State for Education, Abelardo de la Rosa, and the General Director of Planning and Educational Management, Javier Rodríguez.
It is expected that they will be in the city during the 26th and 27th of August to directly analyze the needs before the start of classes. The Secretary of State will also participate in the Education Forum of Ceuta.
One of the main issues will be security.
A plan for access to the centers
The Government is preparing a specific device to protect the centers and their access.
The issue particularly concerns families, teachers, and unions due to the still-present thousands of migrants in different parts of the city and the incidents that occurred during August.
The Administration has not announced a general postponement of the school year at this time.
Therefore, the official date remains September 8th, although in the coming days it must be confirmed that each affected school has been evacuated, cleaned, inspected, and handed over again for educational use.
What happens with migrant minors of school age
There is another different issue: the schooling of minors who end up remaining under protection in Spain.
Children and adolescents subject to the protection system maintain their educational rights. The specific organization will depend on how many remain in Ceuta after the processes of identification, reunification, transfer, and repatriation.
That number is still not finalized, so Education has not published a definitive figure of new enrollments resulting from the crisis.