The City Council reinforces municipal coordination with the educational community to prevent truancy in Estepona

The Councilor for Social Welfare and Education, Maria Aguilar, said that last year the Consistory attended a total of 130 children under 16 years for absenteeism. In addition, workshops on social skills, school reinforcement and job orientation are being prepared to prevent absenteeism and encourage attendance and educational continuity for the 2025/2026 academic year.

The Councillor for Social Welfare and Education, Maria Aguilar, has chaired the first meeting for the constitution of the Technical Team of Truancy in the area of Estepona for the academic year 2025/26, which was attended by the directors, heads of studies and counselors of the schools in the municipality, as well as representatives of the Local Police, the area of Social Welfare, social workers, the director of Social Services, the social worker of the Family Treatment Team and a member of the psycho-educational team of the City Council.

During the meeting, several cases of truancy were discussed and the report of the Truancy Prevention Program, developed by the City Council of Estepona with the collaboration and subsidy of the Territorial Delegation of Educational Development and Vocational Training of Malaga, was presented.

Last academic year, the City Council attended a total of 130 children for truancy, a figure that has increased over the previous year. In total, the municipal technicians carried out 1,297 actions, including telephone calls, interviews and personalized follow-ups with families and students. The municipal program serves children up to 16 years of age, and once the students register five unjustified absences, the truancy program is activated and they are referred to the Community Social Services, where the process of intervention and family support begins.

The Councilor for Social Welfare and Education, María Aguilar, has highlighted the importance of the coordinated work between the different professionals and entities that are part of the commission, noting that “the joint involvement of the educational community and municipal services is essential to ensure that no child is left out of the education system”.

Likewise, the City Council is outlining the new truancy prevention program for the 2025/2026 academic year with the implementation of several preventive workshops aimed at students. These workshops are aimed at encouraging regular attendance to class and improving school coexistence. Among them are the social skills workshop, the workshop on addiction to social networks and new technologies, the school reinforcement workshop and the job orientation workshop.

At the meeting it has also been agreed that the Local Police officers maintain surveillance tasks in the environments of schools to locate possible cases of absenteeism. In addition, the Local Police Headquarters has shown its willingness to activate new action protocols required by the educational community.