Social work of the Municipal Savings Bank of San Sebastián in collaboration with the Gipuzkoa Association for the Disabled, which was created in Gipuzkoa in 1960, with the triple objective of social integration of the disabled, care, education and teaching of the same and raising public awareness about this problem.
The first center was created in Villa Careaga, in Ategorrieta, and it was there that the Caja's collaboration began. In 1962, the Caja adopted the task of caring for, educating, and teaching disabled children as its own Social Work, creating the San Miguel Trust. The immense possible field of care had to be limited, and the San Miguel Trust took on the responsibility of caring for disabled children of an average level - their IQ 0.30 and 0.65 - and from the age of 5 up to a maximum age of 21. The San Miguel Trust was not content with being a school dedicated to disabled children; rather, it became the center of a great deal of activity that developed into complementary and varied actions, such as: diagnostic and guidance services, with the creation of a social statistical file that allows the child's development to be monitored. This is complemented by developmental assistance, either in the centers themselves or on an outpatient basis. Re-education of children, with half-board care (in some cases non-residential), in three successive stages: a) preschool, b) school, c) vocational training.From the very beginning of its administration, the Board of Trustees had to deal with a complete lack of programs for these children, and it decisively and competently tackled the enormous task of programming all activities at all levels of education, creating programs that have been used by many other centers dedicated to the same function. It is worth highlighting another fundamental idea deeply accepted and embraced by the Board of Trustees, which constitutes the key to its development throughout the Province. The principle that mentally handicapped children could not be deprived of family care was accepted as untouchable, and therefore the possible solution of concentrating them in boarding centers where they would be cared for but with the severance of their family ties was flatly rejected. The acceptance of this principle led the Board of Trustees to the solution of establishing centers in each of the province's zones, so that with affordable school transportation, children could be transported to the school each morning and return home in the afternoon after having eaten at the school itself. Opening new centers in each zone required a prior commitment from parents to provide, by whatever means possible, a space for the establishment and operation of the school.
The development process to cover the entire province was truly rapid. In February 1963, the Eibar school was established, with 5 school units and 50 places. In April 1964, the Bergara school, which since 1968 has been in a new building, with 6 school units and 60 places. In the same April 1964, the Irun school was established, with 5 school units and 45 places. In March 1965, the Ordizia school was established, with 3 school units and 25 places, now replaced by a new, modern school building constructed by the Ordizia Parents' Association. In December 1967, the Rentería school was established, with 6 school units and 60 places. In October 1968, the Legazpia school was established, with 3 school units and 30 places. In October 1968, the Azpeitia school, which since October 1972 has been located in a new building constructed in collaboration the Caja and the Urola Cultural Association, opened with 5 school units and 50 places. In September 1969, the Miram n Center in San Sebastián opened. Meanwhile, the school installed in Villa Careaga, where the facilities had been completed with a prefabricated pavilion, had met the needs of the capital. In March 1971, the Tolosa school opened with 5 school units and 50 places. Finally, in February 1976, the Zarautz center opened with 7 school units and 70 places. It must be noted that at each location, the children's care did not begin with the opening of the school, but rather, previously, it had been provided through one of the remaining centers. The Board also located in Miram n, which as a school center has 24 school units and 240 places, a boarding school and the Management Pavilion where all the common services of the Board are located and operated and where they created the activity programs for schools for subnormals throughout the Province, updating and applying them every day. It must also be said that for the construction of the Miram n Center, the Fund did not hesitate to detach from its Miram n Estate, acquired as an important urban reserve for San Sebastián, a 54,000 m plot located in the most noble and most beautifully oriented part of the estate.
As a guide to the importance of the Board, it should be noted that it served 540 children and had a total capacity for 740. It employed 108 staff members and 39 national teachers. The contribution that the Fund had to make in 1977 to balance the Board's costly finances was 52,099,000 ptas. and 68,297,000 ptas. in 1978. From the 1982-1983 and 1983-1984 academic years, the educational work was taken over by the Basque Government's Ministry of Education and the Board was dissolved.Bernardo ANAUT