Castilla y León will start the new school year with some 3,000 additional students. The upward trend of recent years continues, with an increase of 0.9 percent, which means that, in general education, almost 351,000 students will arrive in the classrooms in a school year that begins tomorrow, although some, as in several areas of the province of Soria, I already did it yesterday. The protagonists of this promotion are above all children from 0 to 1 year old, who join next September the first free cycle of early childhood education that the Ministry of Education progressively. This is an “important step”, said yesterday the head of the education portfolio, Rocío Lucas, which means completing the “commitment” of the Council according to which education up to the age of 16 is free in Castile and León.
They are in total 1,746 children aged 0 to 1 year will join the classIt is this September and in total some 22,000 will benefit from the first free cycle of nursery school that goes from 0 to 3 years. A measure that, according to the councilor during the press conference presenting the new course, has been “a success”, a “strong implementation in rural areas” and a “good reception from families”, which, according to their calculations, increases Up to 2,000 euros per year per child can be saved.
THE Vocational Training, a sector that has continued to grow in recent yearswith an increase of 2.56 percent. Enrollments in this option reach 47,344 out of a total of 154 degrees taught in the region, with 51 new cycles in institutes. At this point, Lucas stressed that the “specialization courses” have experienced the greatest rebound, with 20 percent more enrollments. This teaching faces the entry into force of the new law, against which the councilor has once again attacked for the “impositions” of the Government and the “bureaucratic burden” that the registration of student interns in Social Security entails.
Closures
In the Baccalaureate, the student body also increases, by 1.15 percent, but in the rest of the courses it decreases and it is the second cycle of Early Childhood Education (from 3 to 5 years) that records the biggest decrease, with 0.2 percent less. If we add to these figures adult education, arts education and language education, the Community reaches overcoming the “barrier” of 400,000 students” Lucas said.
There will be five centers that will have to close their doors for not having reached the minimum of three students required by the Ministry, either because the families decide to “move” to other schools, or because the students themselves, after having passed a stage, must take the step… to others. The units that will remain open with between three and four students will number 38.He explained that this is one of the “highest figures in recent times”, with schools of this type in all provinces except Soria.
The Community will maintain, he said, “the spirit of innovation” and promote “changes” to “continue improving” an educational system that is at the top of Spain and among the best in the world, he recalled, as stated last PISA Reportwhere Castilla y León achieved the “historic result” of being the first autonomy to lead in the three competitions evaluated. And it will continue on this path by presenting itself to international evaluations, he guaranteed.
Among the planned developments, he mentioned the extension of the spelling improvement program to the third and fourth years of primary school and the extension to 362 initiative centers to improve educational success, where information will be reinforced to families on the level of success through the academic tutor.
