An official resolution issued yesterday, 13 April 2026, by the Andalusian Public Education Agency (APAE) has once again stirred up feelings in Manilva’s education community. The document, which this newsroom has had access to, far from endorsing the announcements recently made by the Regional Education Delegate, Miguel Briones Artacho, reveals serious contradictions and cuts to the investment figures initially announced for repairs to the current school, and there is no trace of any funds allocated to the new school.
The «dance» of figures on the repairs
The main contradiction found in the resolution, signed by the Director General of the Andalusian Public Education Agency, Manuel Cortes Romero, lies in the amount for the emergency works at IES Las Viñas. While the delegate Miguel Briones cheerfully announced, at a meeting with the president of the AMPA (parents’ association) and the headteacher of the school on 13 March, that a tender had already been awarded for more than 400,000 euros to repair the structure and skylights, today’s official resolution puts the waterproofing of the roof and various repairs at just 220,000 euros.
This gap of almost 50% of the announced budget has caused deep unease among the AMPAs, which complain that the real investment is practically half of what the regional delegate announced verbally. They also criticise that Miguel Briones did not even travel to Manilva to speak directly to families, forcing the president of the AMPA and the headteacher to travel to Málaga, losing a whole morning’s work as a result.
According to what they said at the time, the meeting ended without any document being handed over to back up the announcements made, which reinforces families’ feeling that it was all mere statements with no real basis, with no defined budget and no concrete guarantees, a suspicion that is starting to be confirmed with the passage of time.
The archives put the Junta and the provincial Delegation on the ropes
Despite the fact that on 2 November 2023, the Regional Minister for Economy, Finance and European Funds, Carolina España, announced in Málaga that the provincial budget for 2024 reached 615.6 million euros, intended to «do justice» to the province, and that the Junta had included the creation of Manilva’s second secondary school in its budget for 2024.
Within that budget, almost 69 million euros were earmarked to expand educational infrastructure, explicitly mentioning the new IES in Manilva and a primary school in Casares.
The then mayor of Manilva, José Manuel Fernández, confirmed the news on 3 November 2023, publicly calling it «great news» and confirming that the 2024 budget included the investment needed to carry out the work.
Going back to March 2018, the member of parliament Esperanza Oña visited the school and was struck by its prefabricated classrooms, acknowledging the merit of the education community in being able to teach more than 900 pupils in facilities lacking resources and infrastructure.
No trace in the 2024 or 2025 budgets, nor for now in 2026, for the new school
The resolution in the transparency document, dated yesterday and seen by this newsroom, once again focuses exclusively on «patches» for the current building. The document details that total investment in infrastructure over the last two school years has been 341,702.18 euros, a figure made up of small maintenance and thermal comfort works, but which does not include any budget allocation for the start of work on the second school.
Briones’ written contradiction on the «formal request»
Another contradictory point highlighted by this resolution is the administrative ambiguity of the Junta de Andalucía. While in a press release in March the Delegation claimed to have the «formal request from the Town Hall» to speed up the project, an earlier resolution by Miguel Briones himself (Regional Education Delegate) on 3 February 2026 certified in writing that «this Regional Delegation has no record that Manilva Town Hall has formally requested» the construction of the school.
This discrepancy occurs even though the Town Hall has documented the electronic submission of the offer of plots of land for the construction of the new school in February 2022 and again in December 2025, which leaves Mr Briones in a very poor light, as so far it has all been contradictions with no way of proving otherwise.
Meanwhile, the school remains at breaking point
Yesterday’s resolution comes at a time of «persistent structural pressure» at IES Las Viñas. According to official reports, the school now has 1,300 pupils, double its original capacity of 700. This overcrowding has forced it to sacrifice the library, the physics, biology and chemistry laboratories, and even the language workshop, converting them into ordinary classrooms.
Protests continue
The education community is continuing its signature campaign, which already has more than 1,600 signatures, demanding that the Junta stop offering «smoke and propaganda without providing documentation» and that the files and budgets be put «on the table», in the face of what they consider a systematic violation of the right to a decent education in the municipality.
To this end, they have already scheduled a demonstration at the doors of the Diputación and the provincial Education Delegation on 22 April, in response to the renewed stalling of the file and the lack of political will to find a solution to this problem, which affects the whole education community of Manilva and Casares.
The AMPAs have issued a call to all families who wish to attend on the 22nd with the following message:
📢 FAMILIES: WE NOW HAVE A NEW DATE FOR PROTEST
They tried to stop us, but they have NOT SUCCEEDED.
We are moving forward and going back out onto the streets stronger than ever.
📅 Wednesday 22 April
⏰ 10:00 – Outside the Diputación de Málaga
⏰ 12:30 – Outside the Regional Ministry of Education (Málaga)
Our children remain in a collapsed, overcrowded school without decent conditions, while the Junta piles up years of excuses and broken promises.
That is why, on 22 April, *we have to be MANY*.
Because Manilva and Casares will not give up, will not stay quiet and WILL NOT BE STOPPED.
🚌 Free buses. Book your place here: 👉 https://forms.gle/jXSysHpa9w7SDwUo9
💥 It is for our children. It is for their education. It is for justice.
💥 Share this message. Let no one be missing.
