Foreign pupils on the increase

Joan Collins BETWEEN the months of October and December the Balearic education system took in 1'057 new non-Balearic students, some from the Peninsula but the majority from countries outside Spain. The Education department has to deal not only with these late registrations by recently arrived families but also with requests for changes of school within the islands, of which there have been 1'805 during the first term of this school year. These are the figures released by the Balearic Minstry of Education's department of Planning and Centres, figures somewhat above the number of registrations in the first term of the 2004-5 school year. Of the 1'057 pupils who arrived after the school year started, 318 are Spanish while the other 739 are foreigners. The most prominent nationalities among the recent arrivals are: Moroccan (99 new students); British (82); and Argentinian (80). These are followed by Colombian (63), Bolivian (56), Uruguayan (43), Rumanian (40) and Ecuadorian (35). The rest are of another 28 different nationalities. Although the “trickle” of new students doesn't stop during the whole year, it is the first term during which there are most applications because in Februrary the Ministry closes the register because it has to send, by law, the figures to the national Ministry of Education, explained the director general Rafael Bosch, pictured above. As for the 1'805 requests for a change of school, most of these are because of a family move within the same town or to another town, almost always for work reasons. These internal movements affect 845 pupils in primary school, 538 in secondary schools, 363 in infant schools and 59 in higher education. The majority of the changes are on Majorca (1'554). The Balearic Ministry of Education has estimated that 180'077 students will register for courses in the 2005-6 school year at all levels. This is an increase of 1.58 percent on 2004-5. It is calculated that this will include 21'084 foreigners, 10.83 percent more than 2004-5.