The Association of Directors of Early Childhood and Primary Education of Mallorca (ADIPMA) denounces that the new regulation turns management teams into incident managers for private companies. They demand an urgent review.
Public school directors in Mallorca have had enough. The Association of Directors of Early Childhood and Primary Education of Mallorca (ADIPMA) has requested that the Ministry of Education withdraw or urgently review the school canteen decree approved this year. They believe that the text distorts the pedagogical work of management teams and reduces them to mere managers of logistical incidents for the contracting companies.
An unbearable burden for management teams
The organization has identified four critical axes that, according to their analysis, compromise the stability of the educational system in the island's schools. The first is the mandatory physical presence of a management team member during the entire canteen service. ADIPMA considers that this measure represents an unjustified extension of the working day and undermines personal and family reconciliation.
The second point is the forced assumption of supervisory duties. Directors complain that the decree shifts responsibilities that belong to the awarded private companies onto them. “We cannot be the emergency patch for any staffing shortages of the contractors,” the association states.
The third axis is bureaucratic suffocation. The new regulation imposes an administrative burden that, according to ADIPMA, exceeds teaching competencies. Management teams are forced to manage economic and operational incidents that have nothing to do with education.
Private profit at the expense of public time
The association highlights a fundamental contradiction: while private companies profit economically from managing the canteen, the management of that profit falls on the time of directors and teachers. “Public schools cannot become the operational support for these firms,” warns ADIPMA.
The fourth critical axis is the failure of the volunteer model. The decree states that presence in the canteen is voluntary, but in practice, it becomes an imposition. The lack of staff from the contractors forces management teams to fill the gaps, creating an overload that impacts the daily functioning of the schools.
ADIPMA has once again requested that the Ministry eliminate the disproportionate assignment of operational functions, preserve the pedagogical nature of management as a non-negotiable red line, and ensure that the shortcomings of the managing companies are covered by the Administration or the contractors themselves, never by the teaching staff.
A problem affecting the entire island
The situation is not isolated. School directors in Palma and the rest of Mallorca's municipalities have been affected by this regulation since it came into force. The association represents early childhood and primary education centres across the island, so the problem has a widespread impact.
ADIPMA insists that these changes are not technical adjustments, but rather operational barriers that block the mission of public schools. The entity hopes that the Ministry will heed their request and open a dialogue process to modify the decree before the school year is irreversibly affected.
For now, the directors have announced that they will maintain pressure and do not rule out mobilisations if they do not receive a response. The next step will be to request an urgent meeting with the councillor to present firsthand the consequences of a regulation that, they assert, jeopardises educational quality in Mallorca's public schools.
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