BarcelonaThe month of March is always special for schools and institutes because it is the period of open doors and pre-registration. However, for a few years now, it has also been a time of bad news for many centers who inform them of the closure of some Kindergarten 3 (I3) or 1st ESO groups due to the demographic drop.
In the last six years, in Catalonia, the number of children starting the first year of school has dropped drastically. In fact, next year there will be almost 20,000 fewer I3 students than there were a decade ago. This drop in the birth rate has facilitated progress in lowering ratios which, according to the Government, should be less than 20 children per classroom in all nursery school years next year. At the same time, however, this loss of students, added to the measures to fight against segregation, have caused the public system to lose more than a hundred groups between Kindergarten and ESO between the last school year and the next. In fact, according to data compiled by the ARA, in three years the public school will have lost 129 groups, while the chartered school will have lost only 12. Here it should be borne in mind that, at this time, there are only a forecast of the groups that will be in the final offer for next year.
Loss of groups in the Catalan educational system
There are several reasons behind this disparity. One is the Government’s clear commitment to reduce the oversupply of schools in the public network that contemplates the pact against school segregation. Broadly speaking, the demographic decline leaves more empty places and this makes it easier for families to send their children to schools outside their school zone. This dynamic means that more complex schools have less demand, have more empty places and end up taking in more vulnerable students. In the long run, this causes that there are centers that concentrate much more vulnerability than what would be appropriate for them in the area and vice versa, that other schools and institutes do not school the number of vulnerable students that corresponds to them due to the social situation of their neighborhood or municipality
On the other hand, chartered schools and institutes are governed by a concert decree created more than 30 years ago that, despite promises of renewal, the drafts to make a new rule have always remained in a drawer. This decree allows that, while in the public network an offer of school groups is made very adjusted to the number of students that is expected (and if necessary it is then expanded), the concerted centers can make an initial offer with all the groups that they have been authorized in concert, regardless of whether they are expected to be filled or not.
In the case of chartered schools and institutes, the readjustment of groups is done once the course has already started and it is certain whether the proposed groups have been filled or not. From here, within the limits set by the regulations, each center decides how it manages the number of students per group, the fees paid by families and the public subsidy it receives for each group it maintains in order to achieve the numbers Again, here it must be borne in mind that there are different types of charter schools and that some are more involved in the fight against school segregation than others.
The current regulations also allow a chartered school to open a second group of children when it has 24 or more students, while in the public, although the ratios have been reduced, there are still centers that at the end of the year they end up exceeding this number of children per classroom.
Individual impact and lack of resources
Beyond compliance with the regulations, the closure of lines always has a significant impact on the centers that are affected. One of them is the Escola Riera de Ribes which has seen that next year a line of I3 will be deleted, in the same way that it will happen to the Santa Eulàlia school, also in Sant Pere de Ribes. Teacher Andrea Gimeno says that one of the reasons they have been given to close one of the two I3 groups is that there is a “flight” of families to the concerted school. He insists, however, that with the closure of the line they will start the year with a group that will already have 20 students and that, therefore, they will predictably be above the maximum ratio set by the department in a few months, since new children usually arrive with the course started.
“Closing means losing a teacher and we are already very short on resources,” laments Gimeno. The teacher explains that there is no special education school in Garraf and that, therefore, many students with special needs go to ordinary school. “We are in favor of the inclusive school, but the reality is that we lack the resources to give the quality attention that the students deserve,” he warns.
2024-03-22 06:47:22
#courses #public #loses #groups #concerted
