These are pre-registration days, and as has become the norm in recent years, it is announced that lines will be reduced in some schools. The birth rate has been in free decline for many years, and will continue to be so next year 1,800 fewer students Which will start I3 in Catalan schools, compared to last year.
In Catalonia, in six years, the number of I3 students has decreased by 12,000 children.
However, this fact favored the ability to lower ratios. The vast majority of public schools — 90.7% — will, next year, have 20 or fewer children in each I3 classroom.
It will be the first time the second stage of kindergarten (I3, I4 and I5) has been completed in general. Classes will have 20 or fewer studentsBecause it is the third year in a row that the percentages have decreased.
Pre-registration for the second stage of early childhood, primary and secondary education is open until March 20.
Why does the public company close the lines before pre-registration and coordination after it?
Next year, education offers a total of 3,024 I3 groups, of which 2,090 in public schools and 934 in charter schoolss.
The 31 closed groups are in public schools. According to education, if it is not selected to lower the ratio, There will be 110 groups remaining, not 31360 sets of I3 had to be closed in the past three years.
However, the public school is leaving for pre-registration with fewer groups than last year A charter school can offer all linesThis is what the current regulations stipulate.
In order not to generate an oversupply, which could contribute to school segregation, the public school “always comes with an initial offer that is adjusted to suit the record of children of that age”, explains Anna Simo, Minister of Education. However, he admits that in some cases these initial expectations are usually insufficient.
On the other hand, the charter school graduates All groups are allowed per concertOnce pre-registration closes, groups that have not been filled are closed, known as the final offer.
What will the groups be like in the end?
However, at the end of the process, the forecast is for the next year The audience can add up to 25 groups, leaving the coordinated group 42This depends on the options requested by the parents.
This school year, for example, 22 public school groups have reopened, while 38 charter school groups have closed.
Simo explains that the closure aims to prevent segregation in schools.
The new ceremony decree has not yet arrived
For years, centers and families have been waiting for the completion of the new ceremony decree, which has not yet arrived. It should regulate, among other things, those independent schools They can't charge exorbitant feesIn certain cases, even much higher than what families pay for private schools.
This situation is at odds with the reality of many independent schools, acknowledged by the Department and compiled in an Ombudsman report on school place prices, which confirms that independent schools are underfunded, and where more investment is required both for the public and for education. Coordinated.
With regard to the educational presentation, the effective ceremony decree (for the year 1993) stipulated that the section Review the arranged modules once you have completed your pre-registration Therefore, the agreed centers can leave with all the lines in which pre-registration has been made.
Simo confirms that they want to approve the new decree “with all the guarantees so that it will not be challenged.”
“We have been working for two years to include new regulations such as LOMLOE. In the coming months we will be able to set deadlines.”
This was confirmed by the Minister days before she learned of the call for elections next May.
Municipalities that lose collections of I3
This shortfall in students means that 31 fewer I3 groups were offered than last year.
In Tremp, for example, the Valldeflors school presents one line instead of two. Education claims demographic decline. In 2021, there were only 34 deliveries in Trempe and the other municipalities that feed the school. Just six years ago, in 2015, there were 61.
Families can choose between two lines: Valdeflores Public School, and Maria Immaculada Coordinated School. However, Educación emphasizes that the choice of families will be decisive and who will decide whether it is necessary to restore the second group at the Valdeflors school, or even to open another half group in each school.
The Institut Escola Plan de l'Avellà, in Cabrera de Mar, also loses the I3 line. The irony is that just a few days ago, the chancellor had laid the first stone for what was to be the final building for the high school, now in barracks. However, the decline in birth rate does not go hand in hand and has led to the decline of a group.
The municipality has 37 children who will start stage I3 in September. Three I3 lines are offered on the CabreraOne in the public school and two in the charter school.
Simo Lopez y Chirão, General Director of Public Centers, explains that lines will be added if necessary: “If a second line is needed in the Nut Plan, it will be added, but with the indicators we have, no we see the need for this unit, but there is no need to worry.” “For families, because they will be installed if necessary.”
Sant Pere de Ribes is losing two of its I3 lines next year
In Sant Pere de Ribes, the city council and families are worried. The municipality is inspecting two I3 lines in two public schools for the next academic year: one in Escola Riera de Ribes.
Of the AFA, its spokesman, Jordi Fuertes, lamented that this limits access to new families: “If the line is cut, it will be able to offer 18 places, and of these 18 places, 17 are occupied by brothers from the center and for children with special needs.” “Special education. So, only one place is provided.”
The school complains about it They learned of the decision on the same day as the open houseHe believes that the feasibility of his educational project is at risk.
They have mixed age groups, so the decision “affects not only the I3 group, but also the entire school,” says Elena Ferrer San Pablo, a teacher at Escola Riera de Ribes.
“There will be projects that we will have to stop doing.”
And from the city council they advocate that all the lines can be preserved and utilized to reduce the percentage even further since then Al Garraf is a comprehensive areaWithout any special education school, all students, regardless of the difficulties they face, go to regular schools.
“It's a golden opportunity to start with lower percentages,” said Paqui Carrasquilla, education advisor at the Sant Pere de Ribes City Council.
The Department of Education says that the fall Birth does not allow them to maintain two lines At Escola Riera de Ribes and Escola Santa Eulàlia. There are 42 fewer children enrolled in school in the municipality than last year, that is, about twenty children in each village in Rockets and Ribes.
Lopez-Chirao confirms that they have already made an effort to reach the ratio of 18 in order to better distribute students: “This student, from a comprehensive school, or any student, is already part of these 18 students, and all of them are already getting these additional resources.”
Reus doesn't want to lose a streak in La Vicxeta
In Reus, Escola La Vicxeta families don't want to lose a streak either. In addition to the low birth rate. The municipality must redefine education zones That would allow them to receive students from other neighborhoods, to fight school segregation.
The president of the AFA, Mercy Valverdo Bonet, confirms that they could retain a second group, if the city's school districts are reviewed: “We have, less than a 10-minute walk away, neighborhoods full of newcomers, and if they don't belong to the La Vicxeta school district, that's “Precisely because zoning must be reconsidered.”
The City Council recognizes this, but demands unique treatment from the administration. Sandra Gueta Esteruelas is the mayor of Reus and advocates that the vision should be public because if not, “a group is missing in February, which is what is happening to us now.”
Education ensures that if enough students arrive mid-year to open a new group, it will be done. He points out that it would have been possible to shorten two lines in Rios instead of one, because Next year there will be 45 fewer students in I3.
The birth rate in Reus decreased by 130 children in 5 years.
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