Two Opus Dei schools in Girona will separate boys and girls and renounce the Education grant.

BarcelonaAnother case of Catalan schools opting to lose their Education funding to maintain a system that separates students by sex. After two schools in Vallès announced a few months ago that they were merging to maintain gender segregation, two schools in Girona are now following the same path. These are Bell-lloc and Les Alzines, two Opus Dei schools that have offered education from nursery to high school in Girona for more than 50 years and serve nearly 2,300 students.

Jointly, this Monday, the management of the two schools informed families that they intend to merge, starting in the 2026-2027 academic year, into a single school that will differentiate between boys and girls. As Educació has already announced that it will withdraw—or not renew—the public subsidy for all schools and institutes that choose to separate students by sex, the two Girona schools have already explained to families that they are preparing "to move toward a scenario without a subsidy."

As reported by ACN, both schools have acknowledged that renouncing the subsidy will mean having to raise the fees that families must pay. However, the director of Bell-lloc, Ramon Homs, insisted that his "commitment" is to ensure that these fees are "below those typical in private schools." For her part, the director of Les Alzines, Esther Latre, defended the fact that "the current framework does not guarantee the ideal conditions for the development of the project" and asserted that they want to "continue contributing to Girona society in a sustainable way and with freedom, that of the school to have its own character and that of the parents to choose it."

Progressive change

Although at Monday's briefing, both schools announced that starting in the 2026-2027 academic year they will converge "in a single educational project" that will be "differentiated for girls and boys," they explain in a statement that the new project will be implemented gradually. Initially, both centers will remain at their respective locations (Las Encinas in La Cruz de Palau, and Bell-lloc in Can Pau Birol), but later, "during a transition period, estimated to last until 2030," the primary location of the two schools is expected to be the space currently occupied by Bell-lloc.

Therefore, they assure that the new "large educational center" will allow for the expansion and improvement of the current facilities and the launch of a project that will cover all stages: nursery, pre-school, primary, secondary school, high school, and also vocational training courses.