The entry of 3,700 2-year-old children into schools compensates for the drop in students in Primary and ESO | La Verdad

The Region’s classrooms continue to empty of students in Primary and Secondary education at a forced pace as a result of the fall in the birth rate. The school year that starts on September 9 will start with almost 2,500 students in the second stage of Infant, Primary and ESO fewer than the previous one, a decrease that adds to those already recorded in the last decade. The Region’s schools are nevertheless keeping up the pace, against other communities in free decline, thanks to the contribution of 2-year-old children, who joined schools for the first time last year and who fill the schools and prevent classroom closures. Next year, there will be nearly 7,500 children under 2 years of age who will have access to a free or subsidized place for this preschool stage. Of the total number of 2-year-old children, almost 3,700 will be enrolled in conventional schools. The number of places for high school students is also increasing, fuelled by the latest boom generations and the general improvement in academic results.

The enrolment figures for this new academic year are a clear reflection of demographic trends: 891 fewer pupils have been enrolled in Early Childhood Education for 3 to 5 year-olds than last year; in Primary, the decrease is 937 pupils, and in Secondary, which until this year was holding its own, the number of students has fallen by 691. The Baccalaureate alone has gained a thousand students, which added to the 3,700 new 2-year-olds, keeps the school census in positive territory, contrary to what happens in other Spanish communities.

Data for the 2024-25 academic year

Start of course: SEPTEMBER

The template for this course will be

Primary and Secondary. 1,150 more than last year

2-3 years

Schools

public

2-3 years

Schools

concerted

0-3 years

Nursery schools

CARM

0-3 years

Nursery schools

private

0-3 years

Nursery schools

municipal

Attention to diversity

Centers of

attention

educational

preferential

Students in

schools of

education

special

Students

of high

capabilities

Open classrooms

(13 more than last year)

Classrooms of

reception for foreigners

Same as last year

The deadline opens in September, once the centers know their needs.

school canteens. (+11)

For study grants for lower-income students in first and second grade of primary school.

For the loan system for compulsory education, except for the first and second year of primary school

Source: Ministry of Education

Data for the 2024-25 academic year

Start of course: SEPTEMBER

The template for this course will be

Primary and Secondary. 1,150 more than last year

2-3 years

Schools

public

2-3 years

Schools

concerted

0-3 years

Nursery schools

CARM

0-3 years

Nursery schools

private

0-3 years

Nursery schools

municipal

Attention to diversity

Centers of

attention

educational

preferential

Students in

schools of

education

special

Students

of high

capabilities

Open classrooms

(13 more than last year)

Classrooms of

reception for foreigners

Same as last year

The deadline opens in September, once the centers know their needs.

school canteens. (+11)

For study grants for lower-income students in first and second grade of primary school.

For the loan system for compulsory education, except for the first and second year of primary school

Source: Ministry of Education

Data for the 2024-25 academic year

Start of course: SEPTEMBER

2-3 years

Schools

public

2-3 years

Schools

concerted

The template for this course will be

Primary and Secondary. 1,150 more than last year

0-3 years

Nursery schools

CARM

0-3 years

Nursery schools

private

0-3 years

Nursery schools

municipal

Attention to diversity

Centers of

attention

educational

preferential

Students in

schools of

education

special

Students

of high

capabilities

Open classrooms

(13 more than last year)

school canteens. (+11)

Classrooms of

reception for foreigners

Same as last year

For study grants for lower-income students in first and second grade of primary school.

The deadline opens in September, once the centers know their needs.

For the loan system for compulsory education, except for the first and second year of primary school

Source: Ministry of Education

The drop in birth rates has had an impact on the drop in the ratios for infants, which have fallen slightly on average, largely because classrooms have not been eliminated for a few years and because for the last two years the number of students has been reduced structurally to 22, a measure that is taking effect this year in first and second years.

The new academic year will have 1,150 more teachers, reaching a staff of 28,000 teachers and professors. The increase in human resources is due to the hiring that the Ministry of Education has made to apply the 35-hour workday among the teaching staff. These are some of the data presented yesterday by the Minister of Education, Víctor Marín, who broke down the main figures for the new school year. In addition to the new hires, Education has awarded 6,000 structural vacancies, which will be filled by temporary teachers. The Ministry has awarded 3,863 temporary teachers in Secondary Education and 2,156 in Primary Education in July and August, who will join the educational centers assigned to them from Monday.

Preschool, primary and special education students in the Murcia Region will return to school on September 9, and will finish on June 24, 2025. Secondary and high school students, as well as those in Education for the Elderly, will start the new academic year on September 10 and will finish classes on June 20, while those in Vocational Training will start on September 16 and will finish on June 19 of next year.

The Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Víctor Marín, presented the data for the new school year yesterday, satisfied with the improvements that he believes have been achieved in the last two years, with higher performance rates among students, an increase in teaching staff, an increase in places for 0 to 3 year-olds and Vocational Training and more aid for the purchase of books and the school canteen, he said.

In the last two courses, he argued, “improvements have been consolidated such as the working conditions and staff of teachers, with the increase in the number of teachers by more than 2,300 and the reduction in the teaching load of teachers; the educational offer has been improved with the increase in free places for children in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education, 0-3 years, going from 600 to 7,650 places, and the increase in the offer of Vocational Training by 11,300 places, going from 32,200 places in 2021 to 43,500 in the new course”. The teaching unions, on the other hand, denounced delays in the allocation of vacancies and the “diversion” of resources to concerted centers.

The new 2024-2025 school year will begin in the Region of Murcia with more than 320,000 places offered for non-university students and the hiring of 1,150 teachers. More than 28,000 teachers will join the classrooms from September 2 and, as the minister has guaranteed, all teachers will be in their positions from the first day, once the vacancies have been allocated.

Prohibited cell phones

The new academic year maintains the ban on the use of mobile phones in schools, except for pedagogical reasons, implemented last January, which affects all students in any space of the school. It also recommends that schools limit the use of digital devices for individual use (tablets) in reading, writing and mathematics teaching up to the fourth year of primary school inclusive, “with the aim that students reinforce basic skills and acquire sufficient maturity to make responsible use of these devices, according to the recommendations of the group of experts in digitalisation.” These recommendations will be included in the new legislation for the 2025-2026 academic year, which “will lead to a revolution in the digital education system, based on scientific evidence and on the principle of teaching how to use,” announced Marín.

This academic year, there will be more families who will not have to make a large outlay for the purchase of their children’s textbooks and the monthly fees for the school meals. On the other hand, there will also be an increase in the number of huts installed in schools and institutes with space problems or where extension works are being carried out. More than 2,100 students will have to study in the 85 prefabricated classrooms, five more than last academic year, spread throughout the Region, but with a special presence in the Mar Menor, where parents have denounced the situation on numerous occasions.

In the Infant and Primary schools, 51 have been installed, one more than last year. Those from the Santa María del Buen Aire (La Puebla, Cartagena) and CEIP Rey Juan Carlos I (La Unión) centres have been removed, but new ones have been installed in the San Isidro (Los Belones, Cartagena), Virgen de la Vega (Cobatillas, Murcia) and CEIP Los Pinos (San Pedro del Pinatar) centres.

Four more have been installed in the secondary schools, bringing the total to 34. The modular classrooms of the IES Los Molinos (Cartagena), María Cegarra (La Unión) and San Isidoro (Cartagena) have been removed. The Education Department has installed new barracks at the IES Mar Menor (San Javier), two at Menárguez Costa (Los Alcázares), two at Tárraga Escribano (San Pedro Pinatar) and two more at Gerardo Molina (Torre Pacheco).

The 2024-2025 school year will begin with 292 school canteens, with capacity for 18,500 students. This year, the allocation for assistance to school canteens has increased by 37%, with a total of 5.6 million, 1.5 million more than last year. Nearly 7,000 schoolchildren will benefit and almost 40% of the students who use this service will have a canteen scholarship. Textbooks will be free (with the loan system) for all students in compulsory education, with the exception of students in the first and second year of Primary, who will be eligible for scholarships, with an endowment of 800,000 euros.

One of the objectives of the Department of Education for the next academic year, the minister stressed, is to “offer teaching adapted to the needs of each student in order to achieve educational success and reduce dropouts. To this end, the staff for attention to diversity will be increased by 70 professionals. 55% of public secondary schools have more than one counselor, the staff of the teams in those centers that show a higher rate of vulnerability have been reinforced with 25 professionals and all secondary schools have the services of community service teachers.” In addition, the programs that were started last year to curb dropouts will continue, such as ‘ConviveTEAM’, ‘Referen-T’ and the ‘III Regional Plan for the prevention and intervention in school absenteeism and reduction of early school leaving’.