Colau suggests that all children in Barcelona can do extracurricular activities

There is Colau participated this Tuesday for the seventh time as he holds the municipal command staff ‘The mayor responds’, an annual act organized by the Coll·legi de Periodistes, in which the councilor responds, as the title indicates, but in which she also has the habit of submitting some relevant criterion.

Colau highlighted a goal in this issue which is not small: achieve that all children in Barcelona have access to extracurricular activities, that is, to make the sports and non-sports activities offered on weekday afternoons after class universal. 52% of children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 16 do not have access to non-sport extracurricular activities, he warned.

‘Law’ and code of ethics

But before that, he addressed current issues and responded to questions from the dean of the college, Josep Maria Morros. The first, about the complaint that Colau has to declare on March 4, due to subsidies that the city council granted to entities. “I will testify very calmly before the judge, ready to explain what I want to know & rdquor;” she said, after emphasizing that once the text of the complaint is known, she is still calmer.

With regard to the code of ethics of Barcelona and Comú, which provides for the dismissal of whoever is accused, she argued, as she did days ago, that she was not accused of being financially benefited and that the complaint is an action of “administration of justice and rdquor”. ;, war through legal action, by lobbies trying to paralyze municipal action: “The Code of Ethics does not apply in cases of litigation and rdquor ;.

water and brick

As for the lobis, he specified that those who put the bow on him were mainly “real estate vulture funds & rdquor; and” the private company Agbar, which waged a legal and hoax against us. They will not scare us. A lobby will not stop a democratic government from doing its job. ”

Colau also talked about his future, but not to specify it. She said she still did not know if it would be presented again: “A year earlier, in May, it might have to be raised in the organization (for Barcelona and Comú) and start talking about it, but now I am mayor and not a candidate & rdquor ;.

Careful not to be forceful, he distanced himself from the possibility of an Olympic Winter Games: “This is a project that raises doubts in my mind.” It is a matter, he continued, , Aragón and the state fall: “Let them discreetly agree and we will see if Barcelona has a role”. As for the Catalan government, he stated that he’s better off with ‘President’ Pere Aragonès than with his predecessor, Quim Torra: “The truth is that I had more political agreement with Aragonès than with Torra, with whom I made an effort to have good institutional relationship.

two afternoons a week

“Extracurricular activities are essential for children’s equality. “We are going beyond our means to work on a plan so that no child is left without extracurricular activities due to their income level, so that every child can have access to extracurricular activities two afternoons a week”, Colau said about the announced measure this Tuesday.

According to the city council, only 48% of the city’s minors in Barcelona have access to non-sport extracurricular activities. In the case of sports, seven out of 10 children and adolescents practice it. 72% of girls participate in outdoor sports. Among children, the percentage rises to 81%.

These are data from the 2018 survey of sports habits of the school-going population, from which estimates can be made in absolute numbers: that year, about 96,600 children and adolescents practiced sports in primary and high school in the Catalan capital and about 40,200 did so. done. they do not practice.

Part of the measure announced by Colau is already in place, in some cases linked to the neighborhood plan, which includes programs such as Menjallibres 2.0, educational support to strengthen reading and expression in Catalan, aimed at 500 children between the ages of 7 and 9 – second and third grade students- of 30 public schools in 12 neighborhoods, a proposal that has the cooperation of the Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona and the Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona.

Work table

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The purpose of the Colau government is to establish an alliance with the entities in charge of organizing extracurricular activities, some 1,200 in the city, including associations, sports clubs, mothers ‘and fathers’ associations, educational centers, foundations and private companies dominate recreation. Together they organize 1,300 activities, most of which are related to sports, language learning and art activities.

With representatives from all of this sector, the consistory will create a work table for educational afternoons this Wednesday. From the outset, the planned budget for the measure in the remaining two years of the mandate, 2022 and 2023, is 23 million euros. Money that will be invested, among other things, in setting up the Office in the afternoons, which will coordinate the measure as a whole. It is estimated that 24,000 families will need scholarships for extracurricular activities due to high social vulnerability.