“To be a driving force for the changes that education on the islands needs”. This is the goal that Pepita Costa has set for herself as president of the Consell Escolar de les Illes Balears (CEIB), a position she has just occupied and in which the president of the Federation of Parents’ Associations (FAPA) of Eivissa hopes to be for the next four years.
What does having an Ibizan as the head of the CEIB mean?
It should be noted that it is the first time that someone from the island, but also that the presidency is occupied by a woman and a member of the families. It is also the first time after the modification of the regulations that the presidency is elected by the members themselves, not appointed by the Regional Ministry. This has not happened from one day to another, there has taken a lot of work to get here. Since the TIL conflict there has been an awakening and an involvement of families in the educational representation bodies. And for me it was an objective to be in them representing the island. I have been in everything. We families have been very involved in the last few years. We have been in constant contact with the Regional Ministry, who, although we have pushed them, have responded.
There are many more Mallorcans.
Not only are there many more, but all the meetings are held in Mallorca and this means that you have to be willing to travel. This is a major barrier for most people. I had the will to do it and, moreover, as I am self-employed, the possibility. It means losing a lot of time, but if we families want to be heard we have to be there. Just before the pandemic we managed to make these meetings telematic. It saves money for the ministry and time for us.
But what does it mean to have an Ibizan at the head?
The CEIB is the organ of participation of all the educational sectors of the islands and in recent years the federations of the other islands, Menorca, Eivissa and Formentera, have become very important and have had a loudspeaker to convey our specific problems. Will the fact that I am now in the presidency have a knock-on effect? Maybe, but I would like to achieve a balance with, to have a much more peripheral vision. I will continue to fight to ensure that the most specific needs are taken into account, because I still represent the families of Eivissa, but the CEIB is an autonomous body.
Is Eivissa the island with the most needs?
The island that has the most resources, not because it has been given more, but because of its demographic characteristics, is Menorca. It does not have as large population, it has not had the demographic growth that we have experienced here, and as far as 0-3 education is concerned, it has had an educational community that has worked to have structures that Eivissa and Mallorca do not have. Formentera is also privileged for the same reason: it is a small place and it is easier to respond. It has shortcomings, but not like Mallorca and Eivissa, which also have a serious infrastructure problem. Here we have experienced the greatest demographic growth of the islands and we have not been able to catch up because we started from an unequal situation. Why? Because in Mallorca this lack was made up for with educational agreements. There were no more centres. We need to make a major effort to solve this infrastructure problem.
Legislatures and more legislatures and this still has not been solved. Is there a lack of involvement from the administrations?
Yes, from all the institutions, but above all from the town councils. They have played a deplorable role. For many years. They have not planned anything. It is true that nobody foresaw a demographic increase like the one that has occurred, but there was no planning and, what is more serious, and I am sorry to say it, there is no land. The problem is terrible.
Is there no land or those that are assigned have an urban development counterpart? The Santa Eulària school has been blocked for years because of this.
Exactly. It already happened in ses Planes, when the land was assigned, the owner demanded an urbanistic consideration: I give you this rural land but you have to let me build. In Santa Eulària the same thing happens, but in a bigger scale, the expectations of the previous owner was what I would almost call blackmail. And then there is the question: can we give in to these kinds of trade-offs? There is no involvement of the institutions in unblocking these situations and there is an attempt to make a profit on the part of the landowners. It is one more consequence of living in a territory with limited land and a very high level of speculation.
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