Getafe's City Council has requested the Department of Education to create a new public special education centre due to the overcrowding at Santiago Ramón y Cajal, which accommodates 161 students despite having a capacity of 120.
The only public special education school in Getafe, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, is at its capacity limit. With 161 students enrolled compared to the 120 places for which it was designed, the centre has had to divide classrooms with partitions to gain space, a solution that families have been denouncing for years due to its impact on educational quality.
In light of this situation, Getafe's mayor, Sara Hernández, personally conveyed to the Minister of Education, Science and Universities, Mercedes Zarzalejo, the request for a second special education centre in the municipality. The working meeting, according to municipal sources, served to highlight the "overcrowding" of the only existing resource and the need for a short-term response.
The City Council argues that the continuous expansion of space at Santiago Ramón y Cajal through partitions has reduced the size of classrooms, which harms the individual attention required by students with special educational needs. Families have been demanding a structural solution for years that does not rely on temporary fixes.
"It is a very positive model for inclusion, but the age range and resources are very different, making them insufficient and not excluding the need for a second specialised centre in Getafe," Hernández stated, as reported by the City Council.
The local government has also requested more investment and professionals for the specific classrooms in ordinary schools, such as those at Ortiz Echagüe and Santa Margarita. In their view, these classrooms are not being sufficiently promoted as a real alternative for families, which exacerbates the pressure on the specialised centre.
Getafe recalls that it was a pioneer in signing a €100,000 agreement with APANID to strengthen early intervention, but believes that current demand requires more substantial measures. The mayor emphasised that early intervention is key to detecting needs and directing students to the most appropriate resource, whether it be a specific classroom in an ordinary school or a special education school.
The demand for special education places has grown in recent years in many municipalities of the Community of Madrid, parallel to the increase in early diagnoses. This trend has made the expansion of these centres a common demand from municipalities to the Department of Education, which must decide on the creation of new infrastructures.
The City Council of Getafe is now awaiting a formal response from the Community of Madrid. In the meantime, Santiago Ramón y Cajal continues to operate with a ratio far above the recommended level, and families hope that the meeting between Hernández and Zarzalejo will help unlock a solution that has been pending for years.
The request for a second centre adds to other educational demands from the municipality, such as improving resources in high schools and reducing ratios in ordinary classrooms. Getafe, with over 180,000 inhabitants, is one of the most populated municipalities in the region and has a network of educational centres that, according to the City Council, urgently needs updating to cater to the diversity of students.
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