Classrooms move to the sea: hundreds of schoolchildren take to the port of Caleta de Vélez by catamaran

In recent weeks, blackboards and desks have given way to the smell of salt and the sound of ropes. Hundreds of primary school students from Vélez-Málaga and various municipalities in the province are participating in 'The Port as a Classroom', an initiative by the Málaga Provincial Council designed to take children out of school and immerse them, in a completely practical way, in the fishing sector and the protection of the marine ecosystem.

The Councilor for Education of Vélez-Málaga, Lourdes Piña, and the Provincial Deputy of Education and Youth, José Santaolalla, have checked the progress of these sessions at the port of Caleta de Vélez, coinciding with the turn of the students from CEIP Andalucía. During the months of April, May, and this June, about twenty schools in the area have joined these experiential workshops.

Three stops: from navigation to the art of nets

The program is structured around three major activities that combine theoretical learning with direct experience in the field. The first consists of a one-hour educational journey aboard the Catamaran Zostera, allowing them to view the Axarquia coastline from another perspective and learn about the marine flora and fauna.

After disembarking, the students connect firsthand with the traditional craft of the net makers, learning how to weave, maintain, and repair the nets of the fleet moored in Caleta. The experience is completed with a visit to the Fishing Interpretation Center, a stop focused on deepening the economic and cultural importance of this activity in the region, reinforcing awareness of the sustainability of the seas.

"It is a workshop of great educational value. We are in a land of fishing tradition, and knowing this environment, to which many of their parents and grandparents belong, is essential at these ages" — Lourdes Piña - Councilor for Education

An educational resource for the entire province

For his part, the provincial deputy José Santaolalla has emphasized that the purpose of the Provincial Council is to offer an educational model outside the school where coexistence and practical learning prevail, allowing children to discover an essential sector of the local economy that is often unfamiliar to them.

School delegations from centers such as Augusto Santiago Bellido, El Romeral, José Luis Villar Palasí, Juan Herrera Alcausa, La Gloria, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, Las Naciones, Custodio Puga, San José, Blas Infante, Vicente Aleixandre, Genaro Rincón, Juan Paniagua, Juan Porras, San Faustino, and Torrejaral have already participated in the project, consolidating the port of Caleta de Vélez as an open classroom for the entire Malaga educational community.