Next year, fifty groups of 1st year ESO will be closed in the public school

BarcelonaThe drop in birth rates continues to be felt within the Catalan education system. The most obvious example is that next year in all Catalan schools and institutes there will be 30,956 fewer students, as explained this Friday by the Education Minister, Esther Niubó. The drop in students, added to the need to reduce the educational oversupply to fight against school segregation, will mean that next year Education plans to close 83 I3 and 1st year ESO groups between public and private schools. However, Niubó assured that 98 percent of the groups that are currently open in these two courses will be maintained.

Specifically, next year it is expected that there will be 5,194 fewer students in 1st year ESO, a reality that will translate into the disappearance of 58 groups of this course in the public network, where a total of 1,897 groups will be offered. In the private sector, however, the 947 1st year ESO groups that have been operating this year will be maintained. However, it must be taken into account that these data only affect the beginning of the secondary stage, which is when school planning is done, and that, therefore, as the ESO courses progress, the concerted centers do lose several groups.

When asked if this drop in birth rates could not open the door to reducing the ratios in secondary school, which now allow up to 30 students, instead of closing groups, Niubó repeated that there is still a lack of space to achieve this change. He also insisted that the drop in students will allow some reduction in the number of students per group in certain secondary schools.

Most I3 groups will have fewer than 20 students

As for I3, it is expected that in the 2025-2026 academic year 1,252 fewer boys and girls will start school than now. Unlike what happens in the ESO, this reduction in the number of students will allow the ratios to continue to be reduced, although it will not prevent the closure of some groups. Thus, next year there will be 23 fewer I3 groups in the public system and 2 fewer in the private system (which, again, does lose more groups throughout the infant and primary stages). Thus, next year it is expected that 93% of public I3 classrooms and 55% of private ones will have a ratio of 20 or fewer students – legally they can have up to 25. With all this, the Government estimates that with this reduction in students the closure of 63 public groups has been avoided.

On the other hand, as a novelty, in the school planning for the next course the Department of Education will take into account the forecast of students with active registration who can arrive at a center when the course has already started and the groups are formed. This is a situation that around 12,000 students in all of Catalonia experienced between September and February. Now Educació foresees that some public groups will come out with more free places to accommodate these newly arrived students, which will mean that next year almost half of the I3 groups will have a ratio of 19, 18 or fewer students.

Beyond the puzzle of places, school pre-registration this year will be from March 12 to 26 in the second cycle of early childhood and primary education and from March 14 to 26 in ESO.

125 school institutes

Next year in Catalonia there will be three new centres which, as Niubó has clarified, are not schools or institutes that are born from scratch, but all the new centres are derived from mergers and transfers. In this way, the Nou de Vic Institute, the Sant Jordi School (Navàs) and the Navàs Institute (Navàs) will be created. There will also be 7 new school institutes and this model will have already been extended to 125 centres. Four of the new school institutes will open in Barcelona, ​​​​one in Viladecans, another in Sant Pol de Mar and one in Bellver de Cerdanya.

On the other hand, during 2025 it is expected that the construction and expansion works of six different centers will be finished: El Roser-ZER Plaurcén School (El Poal), Castillo de Òdena School Institute (Òdena), Pompeu Fabra School Institute (El Pont de Vilomara and Sofort) Sant Pol School (Sant Pol de Mar), Pic del Vent/El Calderí School Institute (Caldes de Montbui).