Education Ensures 99.67% of Primary and Infant Students Will Study in Chosen Language

99.67% of Primary and Infant students in the Valencian Community will study in the base language chosen by families for the 2025/2026 academic year. This was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Education, Culture, Universities, and Employment, José Antonio Rovira, who appeared to explain the most relevant data of the process of school admission for Primary and Infant that begins this Tuesday and will conclude on May 14.

The Minister was accompanied by the Regional Secretary of Education, Daniel McEvoy; the Director General of Educational Centres, Jorge Cabo; and the Director General of Language Policy and Organisation, Ignacio Martínez.

Analysis of the distribution of units shows that Valencian is the predominant base language in the Valencian educational system, with 43% of infant education units and 52% of primary education units.

This trend is also observed in the Valencian linguistic predominance area, where these percentages reach 50% in infant education and 60% in primary education. Conversely, in the Spanish linguistic predominance area, Spanish is the majority base language, present in 80% of infant education units and 99% of primary education units. In Infant, it should be noted that the base language of 3-year-old units is uncategorised, pending family decisions in the admission process.

The Department of Education also highlights that 40 units for Valencian base language will be enabled throughout the Community in Spanish-speaking areas (9 infant education units and 31 primary education units). Of these, only two will be in the province of Alicante, both newly created, specifically in Elda and Torrevieja.

The Minister of Education explained that the admission process for the 25/26 academic year is also marked by a decline in birth rates. "According to census data and information gathered through coordination with municipalities, it is observed that we are starting from a general decline in the number of students entering the educational system by age, who are those born in 2022," he indicated.

Overall, the Valencian Community has 5,956 fewer students to enrol. Compared to the previous year, for 41,560 students born in 2021, the number of 3-year-old units offered for the admission process last year was 1,983. However, to enrol the 35,604 students born in 2022, there will be a total of 2,022 units. "Therefore, with 5,956 fewer students, there will be 39 more units," highlighted the Minister.

Furthermore, in those localities where the number of births in 2022 has significantly decreased, a maximum ratio lower than the 25 students established by Decree 58/2021 has been set, with 20, 22, or 23 students as the maximum per unit, in order to maintain the maximum number of units in operation and enable more individualised attention.

Additionally, following the actions initiated last year regarding the fight against depopulation in the Valencian territory, in areas identified as municipalities at risk, the minimum has been lowered from 4 to 3 students to form the first group, from 6 to 5 for the second, and so on. In this same sense, the offer of the first cycle of Infant Education is being expanded in those localities where it does not exist.

Finally, the Minister reminded that the admission process must be carried out online through the AdmiNova platform, which was launched last year. "A simple process, with a website where tutorials, access to applications, and all necessary information appear," he indicated.

Additionally, families will be able to view on the website the vacancies offered by educational centres in both Base Language Spanish and Base Language Valencian, resulting from the configuration of groups arising from the base language consultation. And in the entry levels (3INF), it will be the families' requests that will configure the base language of these units.

It is important to remember that for each requested option, the base language for accessing the educational centre must be indicated. If a centre offers places in both base languages and one wishes to apply for both, two application lines out of the total 20 in the form must be used, i.e., applying twice for the same centre, once for each base language.