The population of Spain doubled during the first part of the 20th century and then birth rates dramatically declined in the last quarter. In the last ten years these have slowly recovered. The more recent growth in population is largely due to immigration. Records for January this year show that there were 5,220,000 foreign residents here.
Anybody visiting Bigastro though could be forgiven for thinking that the town bucked the trend and has experienced a baby boom which is still continuing. Many of the young women in the town are either expecting children, pushing prams or both. Six percent of the population (479) are under 4 years of age; 20 percent (1,607) are in their teens or younger. This means there are 105 more children than in 2005 and 282 more than in the year 2000.
All these children need educating. First they had to build a new secondary school, then a new primary school; now the infant school is bursting at the seams.
A group of 20 parents along with the Councillor for Education, Maria Dolores Andreu, visited the Education Department in Alicante to protest about the deficiencies that the infant school La Paz is facing. Numerous letters and requests for meetings had failed, so the group went in force demanding some action.
The two main issues to be tackled are the lack of a dining room at the school and the need for another teacher and two support assistants.
What the group were promised, was work to commence in September 2009 on extensions to the buildings.
I don't suppose a spate of bad weather where people are cooped up inside will help ease the situation!
No comments:
Post a Comment