To resolve the chronic underfinancing suffered by the educational system and allow schooling to be truly free, 944 million euros would be necessary. This is what the Ombudsman of Greuges concludes in her Report on the estimation of the cost of school places made public this Wednesday. The 266-page document carries out an exhaustive study on public investment and real spending, and highlights that, despite the increase in the Generalitat’s investment in recent years -35% more since 2019-, it has not been possible to reverse the inequalities between centers or the problem of underfinancing. “We note an increase in the budget, but we do not see an impact on it, nor an improvement in results or a reduction in the fees paid by families,” summarized Aida Rodríguez, deputy of the Ombudsman.
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Almost two years late
The update of the cost of the place was commissioned to the Ombudsman by the ERC Government at the beginning of 2024, with the aim of knowing how much it should increase those backpacks economic. The report had to be prepared within a maximum period of one year, but the process encountered a series of vicissitudes: the change of Government, the delay in the creation of the commission that was to carry out the study, the lack of budgets and “other internal issues” of the institution of the Ombudsman have delayed the presentation of the report, so much so that the Government did not wait to have it before announcing in March the increase in the amount of aid for the concerted one. The Ombudsman has not wanted to assess the delay nor the Government’s decision.
