With the arrival of the month of September, educational centers throughout the country are getting ready to receive their students again. After two long summer months, it is time to return to the classroom, although the day to start the new course will vary depending on each autonomous community.
The start of classes also depends on the level of teaching. In some territories of the country, ESO and Baccalaureate students return to the classrooms a few days later than those in Preschool and Primary and do not finish the course at the same time.
The schools that will open their doors to their students first will be the Catalan and Madrid schools, which will do so on September 6. The last to start the school year will be the schools of Andalusia, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia and Navarra, which will do so on September 11.
This graph shows how each autonomous community organizes its school calendar for this 2023-2024 academic year. Only during the Christmas holidays do all educational centers in the country coincide on the dates established for their start and end. During the Easter holidays, however, each autonomous community chooses its dates.
As established by the Education Law, the school calendar includes a minimum of 175 teaching days for compulsory education. As for holidays, the dates for Christmas are set between December 22 and January 7 for all educational centers in the country. For Easter, the Ministry of Education reports that it should be 10 days in March or April (when that holiday falls) although the dates vary depending on the autonomous community.
This new academic year 2023/2024, which begins in the coming days, will be marked by lower teacher/student ratios and by the closure of classrooms in many territories due to a lack of children. On the other hand, inflation will leave a return to school more expensive than usual for Spanish families. According to the INE, notebooks and other paper products have become more expensive by 23% on average. Other items such as clothing have also seen their price increase.
