The growth of the city of Las Palmas was marked by a constant demand for educational institutions capable of satisfying a social and civic demand for welfare, formation, preparation and culture. The city itself fought for institutions like the Salesians have to come to the city.
Indeed, it was precisely the most active groups the time that most insistently requested the Salesian presence, from the clergy to the political and middle classes, who were well aware of what this could mean for the society of the time. Thus we recall the numerous letters from Bishop José Cueto y Díez de la Maza, at the time Bishop of the Canary Islands, to Seville, Barcelona and Turin; the efforts of Dr. Bartolomé Apolinario Macías and the sale of the property to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart by the institute's founder, Alejandro Hidalgo, so that the Salesians could take it over for their activities.
This exercise in civic will found its fulfilment when the Salesians began their educational activities in the capital of Gran Canaria, on 8 December 1923. Their impact was immediate: between January and February 1924, they took in almost a hundred orphans, most of them (72) from the San Antonio Refuge as well as twelve pupils on scholarships from Agüimes and Moya.
With them, and the many who arrived in the following decades, carpentry, shoemaking, printing and tailoring workshops were gradually put into operation. The Salesians always made it a priority to train capable professionals in various fields. Things went on like this for many years, even though the social changes that began to transform the country in the late 1960s would later bring new training models.
It was then that the Salesians took the challenging but fruitful step of transforming their Salesian Vocational Schools into the integrated centre for Primary, Middle, Higher and Pre-University Education that continues to this day, with the appropriate adaptations required by subsequent legislative changes. Even today, thanks to the educational convention model in force throughout the country since the 1980s, the Salesian school welcomes all families who knock on its door asking to enrol their children, without any distinction based on their financial circumstances.
In addition to their educational work and social advancement, since their arrival the Salesians have always taken care of a wide range of religious and parish activities in the city; and along with this, we must not forget the many initiatives of social advancement, both for the young people of the neighbourhood and for the ones in the rest of the city, and even more so for the many young people who risk their lives to reach Europe from the African continent - thanks to the invaluable work of the 'Fundación Don Bosco - Salesianos Social'.
Finally, thanks to the cooperation of various organisations, training courses in specific labour sectors are still being implemented, especially aimed at a considerable group of young people who have left the school system and are therefore at high risk of social exclusion.
