Have Your Say - CEPA San Cristóbal

The city: San Cristóbal de la Laguna

Canary Islands is an archipelago lying to the west of the African Western Sahara, and is one of the so-called outermost regions of the European Union. It´s 1200 km far from the mainland.

Main income is from tourism. Visitors can enjoy not just the weather and beaches, but also a great variety of natural areas. Canary Islands are one of the most extensively protected territories in Europe, with 42 per cent of the territory under some level of environment protection.

San Cristobal de La Laguna is a city and in the northern part of the island of Tenerife. With 150,000 inhabitants, the city is the third city in population of the region. La Laguna's historical center was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

According to data from National Institute of Statistics for the third quarter of 2018, the rate of unemployment was 18.56 %, which is more than seven percentage points above the national rate and second among all Spanish regions. Canary Islands have one of the highest rate of unemployment in EU.

The institution: CEPA San Cristóbal

It is precisely on this context where CEPA San Cristobal provides its offer in adult education.

logo CEPA2 The institution started in 1963 when the aim was to finish with the high levels of illiteracy in Spain. The town hall collaborated by providing facilities: first classrooms were located in the old seminary, primary schools, and others. When this campaign finished in 1973 programs of Adults' Lifelong Education (EPA) were organized. The centre started offering basic degrees training. In 1985 our offer increased with a variety of workshops related to typing, hairdressing , dressmaking, computer basic muse, etc.

Since 2000 CEPA San Cristobal is located in a main central building and a wide net of auxiliar spaces. Since then other studies have been added, such as Nursing and English distance learning. Nowadays, CEPA San Cristobal has increased the number of external classrooms due to the growing amount of adult learners that register for a course every year.

Scope of Activities

Basic literacy targeted to elder early school leavers. (9 groups)
Secondary basic degree training, required either for professional purposes or to continue studying further training programs. (21 groups)
VET course for Assistants in Nursing. (2 groups)
English as a foreign language. (4 groups)
Access course to vocational training for adults with experience but without suitable qualifications . (3 groups) Number of students (2019): 950