Por Pablo Arranz 
The Platform of Affected IES El Palmeral in Orihuela (Alicante) rejects the relocation of its ESO and Bachillerato students once this institute is transformed into an Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP) for the next academic year 2025-2026.
Specifically, it bases its position on the fact that the Department of Education «continues to provide scant and vague information on how the distribution of students will be organized.»
This was stated by the group in a statement after the meeting of the Valencian Council of Vocational Training (CVFP) last Friday.
Although Education has designed a transformation plan that includes a «transitional period of three academic years,» the Platform argues that the administration «has not specified which facilities will be made available to accommodate these students in the receiving centers –IES Gabriel Miró, IES Espeñetas, and IES Tháder– and has only indicated that the proposals submitted by the educational community, the reports of the educational inspection, and the appropriate technical considerations have been taken into account.»
The group of affected individuals believes that these statements from the Department are «very general and confusing» and «demonstrate the vagueness of the planning» by the regional administration, «since neither the schools nor the families know exactly how, for example, school transportation will be organized.»
«ENLARGING AND OVERCROWDING OTHER IES»
In this sense, the «only certainty» that the Platform currently has is «the creation of the CIFP and that the 400 ESO and Bachillerato students from IES El Palmeral will enlarge and overcrowd other IES that are already at the limit of their capacity.»
Furthermore, they believe that «the fact that the transition of students will take place over a period of three courses does not solve this problem, but only postpones the negative effects of the movement in order to demobilize families.»
Likewise, the Platform insists that «the educational community has not been listened to» and that since the plan to relocate students from IES El Palmeral was announced, they have advocated for «creating the CIFP, but at the same time maintaining the offer of ESO and Bachillerato there until the necessary infrastructure is available or a new institute is built in Orihuela.»
To achieve this, they have argued, a physical and administrative segregation of the current institute could be carried out, so that one part would be exclusively dedicated to Vocational Training (FP).
On another note, on Monday, February 17, various representatives of the Platform met with the Councilor for Education of the Orihuela City Council, Vicente Pina, who, according to this group, «has shown willingness to listen to the concerns of a group of mothers and teachers from the four public ESO centers in Orihuela.»
«However, despite the cordial tone of the meeting, the councilor has conveyed the intentions of the Department to continue with the current planning of the project and has not committed to defending the proposals of the Platform so that the new CIFP does not result in the deterioration of the other institutes,» they add from the Platform.
Therefore, the group has called for a new rally this Saturday, February 22, at Glorieta Gabriel Miró, at 10:00 a.m., to once again urge the Department of Education «to take into account these proposals and carry out a logical, consensual, and planned process that does not undermine the quality of public education in Orihuela and promotes equal opportunities for future students in the city.»