Surge in Foreign Students in Andalusia

The number of foreign students enrolled in Andalusia has surpassed 151,000, an increase of 58,000 over the last decade. This represents a growth of over 63% in the last ten years. Statistics show that more than 63,000 are enrolled in primary cycles, a little over 28,000 are in secondary school, and even fewer are in high school. Furthermore, these figures reveal that the foreign population now accounts for nearly 9% of all students in Andalusia. Málaga, with over 45,000, and Almería, with over 40,000, host the largest populations of foreign students. In the labor market, data also indicates that nearly 20% of new hires in Andalusia are immigrants. One consequence of this influx is being felt in educational centers, which are receiving more and more foreign students. Ten years ago, in the 2014/2015 school year, there were 93,059 foreigners enrolled in schools and institutes across the autonomous community. This school year, according to the regional government, there are 208 teachers in these adaptation classrooms throughout Andalusia. In Vocational Training (at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels), there are a little over 8,600 students. In Andalusia, for newcomers who do not have a strong command of the language, Temporary Language Adaptation Classrooms (ATA) are offered. These include educational programs for foreign students who do not speak Spanish fluently. This means that, looking back at the same statistics, the foreign population in Andalusia has multiplied in recent years. Which provinces have the highest concentration of students from other countries? In fact, in Andalusia, as stated by the president of the regional government, Juanma Moreno, during the presentation of his book, the number of foreigners residing in the community has surpassed 850,000. They are followed, in order, by Seville (18,123), Granada (16,965), Huelva (11,456), Córdoba (5,913), and Jaén (5,456). Regarding the origin of the students arriving in Andalusian schools, it should be highlighted that those from Africa are the most numerous with 56,764, followed by those from Europe (42,413), the Americas (42,009), and finally, from Asia (8,154). As for their educational level, the majority are in kindergarten or primary school. Specifically, there are 72 in Almería, 16 in Cádiz, 11 in Córdoba, 25 in Granada, 20 in Huelva, 7 in Jaén, 48 in Málaga, and 9 in Seville. These figures have sparked considerable controversy in Andalusia recently, as immigration is a central issue in the election debates. This means that foreigners now constitute ten percent of the population. According to the latest data regularly published by the Ministry of Educational Development and Vocational Training, in the past 2024/2025 school year, there were a total of 151,873 foreign students in Andalusian educational centers. These classes are taught in public primary and secondary schools during school hours, with specialized teachers, and are supplemented with support that can be provided both inside and outside the regular classroom. Data from responses indicates that Islam is taught in about 200 centers in Andalusia, with approximately 38 of them located in the province of Almería, such as El Ejido, Roquetas de Mar, Cuevas del Almanzora, Níjar, Vícar, La Mojonera, and Huércal-Overa. There are approximately 5,500 foreign students in high school. The objective is to teach Spanish as a vehicular language to integrate them into the school environment and facilitate their learning. More and more people are arriving and choosing to settle in these lands, likely in search of a better life than in their countries of origin. Andalusia has become a community that receives a foreign population. This is because, in contrast to the moderate discourse of the regional president, who advocates for orderly immigration and considers foreigners necessary to counteract the sharp decline in birth rates and provide necessary labor in certain productive sectors, there is the extremism of Vox, which continues to insist on its criminalizing stance. In fact, members of Manuel Gavira's group have presented numerous initiatives on what they call the "Islamization" of schools.