Foreign pupil numbers rise in Spanish Schools

September 12, 2006

The number of foreign pupils has gone up eight times in the past decade, the education ministry said on Friday. They now represent 8.4 percent of all children in Spanish public and private schools.

In total there are about 600,000 foreign pupils in Spain. Some 27 percent of these are from other European countries, according to statistics released from the ministry.

More children of foreign parents are now going to state schools instead of private schools. Five years ago, there were three foreign children in state schools for every one in a private school. Now the ratio is four to one.

The highest number of foreign children were in the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Costa Blanca, and Costa Calida.

In some of these regions, they represent 10 percent of the pupils in a school.

For an extensive choice of new and off plan property for sale in Spain on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida, visit the Novocasa website.