The 2022-2023 school year starts today in the Balearic Islands with 172,970 students enrolled in kindergarten, primary, ESO, FP and Bachillerato, according to data from the Regional Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. A total of 21,331 students will start the course in the Pitiusas.
The Balearic figure is somewhat lower than last year, when at the beginning of the course there were 173,482 students enrolled. This year there were 512 less students enrolled, something that the Conselleria attributes mainly to the drop in the birth rate.
However, it should be noted that the enrollment process is still open for studies such as Vocational Training or the distance learning Baccalaureate.
Of the total number of students, 51,000 correspond to private schools. By type of studies, 28,489 are in the second cycle of infant education, 65,967 in Primary, 46,480 in ESO, 2,003 in basic vocational training, 13,265 in Baccalaureate, 9,556 in intermediate vocational training and 7,210 in higher vocational training.
By islands, 138,082 correspond to Mallorca, 13,557 to Menorca, 20,161 to Ibiza and 1,170 to Formentera -without including data from non-subsidized private centers-.
Classes begin in a total of 421 public and subsidized schools, with 16,870 teaching vacancies, of which 13,069 are in public schools and 3,811 in subsidized schools. This academic year there are 560 more teachers than last year.
New features of the academic year for students
The main novelty for this academic year is the application of the Lomloe or ‘Ley Celaá’. The new curricula will be in force this year for all infants and the odd courses of primary, secondary and baccalaureate. Since last March, some 1,500 teachers have received training on learning methods.
Another new feature is the free education for 5,274 places in the 2-3 years stage, 3,924 of them in the public network and 1,350 in the complementary in 158 centers. This measure will involve an investment of 18.6 million euros, with an expenditure of 2,500 euros per student. An increase has also been foreseen in the provision of the modules of the 0-1 and 1-2 years stages.
In addition, during this academic year 2022-2023 the students of the Balearic Islands will leave behind the restrictions derived from the covid pandemic, although the schools will continue with practices such as air filtering or hand washing. Likewise, the pandemic has meant a boost to digitalization; 5,000 digital classrooms have been purchased and 15,000 devices will be distributed to vulnerable families.
School transport, canteen grants and classrooms
On the other hand, the school year will have 280 school transport routes and 351 vehicles, which provide a service to a total of 139 centers with 15,492 places. Likewise, an investment of eight million Euros has been foreseen this school year for canteen subsidies and 2.8 million Euros for the purchase of textbooks.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.