A New Life in Spain - Fall in foreign students

Children all over Spain went back to school this week after the long summer holidays. And this term, a record number of pupils is on the class registers – but surprisingly, there has been a sharp fall in the foreign student headcount in the Comunidad Valenciana. For the first time in a decade, there are more native Spanish children in the classrooms than children from abroad.
The new term has started with 502 fewer immigrant pupils than last year. Historically, with Spain’s notoriously low birth-rate, it was immigration that kept the numbers up – but the regional ministry of education believes many families have returned to their countries of origin such as the UK as a result of the global recession.
Indeed, at the end of the summer term this year, foreign children started to leave schools in the region before breaking up for the holidays, as their parents had chosen to return home for financial reasons.
Overall, an increase of two per cent in the number of schoolchildren has been recorded – rising to 766,332 in total – whereas foreign pupils now account for 91,914 as opposed to last year’s 92,416.
Teacher numbers have also increased significantly, with over 51,000 new tutors, thus considerably reducing the teacher-pupil ratio and offering a much more individually tailored education.
The cost to parents, statistics released recently showed that the average parent was forced to shell out 913 euros per child simply to send them back to school – clothing, footwear, textbooks, stationery, plus transport and lunches that had to be paid upfront are among the main expenses.
Whilst each child who goes to a state school costs their parents around 540 euros, for those who go to private school this figure rockets to over 1,300 euros. Costs for kids in grant-maintained schools is roughly halfway between the two. Back-to-school expenses for parents in the Comunidad Valenciana are the third-highest in Spain, after Madrid and Catalunya.
Mothers and fathers still spent less this year, though, due to the recession, cutting corners where they could – such as re-using schoolbags, notebooks and pens where possible. Textbooks are the biggest expense faced by parents, often costing around 300 euros per year per child.
Those who are eligible for full or partial grants may receive between 100 and 180 euros per child. The Comunidad Valenciana’s ministry of education set aside 51 million euros this year to help parents fund their children’s textbooks.
This figure is higher than Madrid, where the regional government shelled out 30 million euros. But even then, most parents complain the textbook grants they receive are not enough to be of any real assistance.