Ceuta and Melilla face educational challenges and program closures

Educational challenges are mounting in Spain's autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta. In Melilla, the SATE-STEs union has criticized the city for ranking last in Spain according to PISA report results. The union highlighted significant gaps in science, reading, and mathematics compared to the national average, attributing these outcomes to low socioeconomic indices, high teacher shortages, and high grade repetition rates.

Elena Fernández Treviño, the Provincial Director, urged caution in interpreting the PISA data, noting that while global competencies are declining, local diagnostic tests show improvements in reducing school dropout and failure rates. She emphasized the need for programs to compensate for socioeconomic differences between Melilla and mainland Spain.

In Ceuta, the political group Podemos has denounced the closure of specific vocational training cycles, specifically in Energy Efficiency and Solar Thermal Energy. The group criticized the Ministry of Education for using economic profitability as the sole criterion for maintaining programs, arguing that such decisions ignore the strategic importance of renewable energy training in a region with high youth unemployment.