The 2024-2025 school year begins today in Galicia. It does so with 307,544 students, 3,289 fewer than the previous year, but with 31,603 teachers, the highest number in the history of education in the Community. A record number of teachers that is “the result of different measures” introduced “in the system and the commitment of the Xunta in the continuous improvement of the service to students”, as stated by the Minister of Education, Science, Universities and FP, Román Rodríguez, Tuesday, in his speech in plenary session of the Parliament to report on the educational policies of this course.
“After the first quarter of the 21st century, It is time to lay the foundations for what Galician education of the future will be,” which this year faces the greatest modernization process in the last 30 years, he said. But before going into the details of the roadmap of this course, he wanted to highlight issues such as investment, which currently stands at 3 billion euros, placing Galicia as one of the communities that invests the most per student, around 8,075 euros, 1,000 more than the Spanish average; or school dropout, which has gone from 30% in 2000 to 9% today.
“A new path”
Regarding the “new path” that Galician education is starting this year, he explained that he envisages five main lines:The first is the “historic pact” signed last year with three of the four trade union organizations, which includes measures such as improving ratios, 20% fewer students per class or keeping 200 classrooms open this year that, with the old ratios, would have been closed. An improvement that begins this year already in the 4th grade, where the maximum number of students per class goes from 25 to 20, a decrease that will gradually extend to the rest of the educational levels.
The second major line of action is the one already presented Galicia Education Improvement Plan (MEGA)approved last week in the Council. With an investment of more than 77 million euros over the next four years, its objective is to increase the level of skills of students, personalize educational support, improve attention to specific needs, move towards more inclusive teaching and strengthen teacher training. This initiative consists, among other things, of providing the centers with 400 additional teachers.
The third measure is the improvement of facilities, carried out through the Nova Educational Architecture Plan. With an investment of 278 million euros over the period 2021-2024, 2,700 works have been carried out, allowing the expansion of 43 centers throughout the community. The fourth consists of a strengthening of vocational training within the framework of the FPGal360 Plan, so that “no citizen reaches the age of 18 without some type of qualification that qualifies them to enter the labor market.” We are also continuing with the Conecta Plan, which this course has allowed the creation of 46,714 new entry places so that all those who wish can do a FP.
Finally, the last guideline with which Galicia will plan the education of the future is the Overall strengthening of family support policies. As the mayor pointed out, Galicia is, since this year, the first community in which the public education system is “free from nursery schools to universities”, estimating the average saving for all courses per child at 3,000 euros per family by not having to pay university tuition fees. “The education system has a transformative power and is one of the most important resources that administrations have to offer the same opportunities to all citizens”, he said in this regard.
“Out of reality”
A vision that, according to the nationalist deputy Crisitina Fernández, is “very different from reality”, recalling the “actions” of protest to denounce the educational “cuts” of the Xunta. The socialist deputy Julio Abalde also criticized the fact that the vision of the Executive is a “out of reality”, denouncing the situation of students with special needs or the fact that, for example, university tuition is free but not textbooks. A criticism that Rodríguez defined as “the same old tuneless music”, stating that “either there are cuts or there are more teachers. Both things are very difficult”, although he announced that his administration “is already working” to resolve “the specific cases” of which it has become aware.
