Tech Glitches Force Queues for Andorra Summer Kids' Programs

A technical glitch has disrupted online registrations for summer activities in Escaldes-Engordany, forcing many families to queue at municipal offices despite reinforced staffing.

The issue struck on Monday, preventing users from uploading a required form at the final stage of the process. Although resolved by around 10:45am after contacting the external provider, the problem led to significant lines at communal facilities. The parish had anticipated high demand by setting up five in-person stations: three tables at the town hall and two at the Sports Department in Prat del Roure. By 8:30am, 10% of available spots had already been filled, mostly through walk-ins.

Comuna officials noted that this year they migrated the system to the cloud on the recommendation of a contracted firm, investing €10,000 in the transfer and €20,000 annually in subscriptions. Pre-launch tests were conducted, but the fault still occurred amid peak traffic on the first day of sign-ups, reserved this week for parish residents. Non-residents can apply from June 15.

Escaldes-Engordany plans further upgrades, budgeting €30,000 for separate platforms per activity to isolate future issues.

Last week, Andorra la Vella faced a similar platform failure during registrations for its summer programmes for children and youth. Originally set for Tuesday, sign-ups for Social and Culture department activities shifted to Thursday, when the glitch recurred, blocking web access due to high volume overwhelming the application.

Councillor for Social, Youth and Public Space Maria Nazzaro confirmed all Thursday submissions from capital residents received responses, prioritising them ahead of this week's opening for non-parish applicants. "No child from the parish would be left out," she said, adding that demand exceeded initial limits for one week, requiring extra monitors to meet ratios.

The provider is now investigating the exact failure point. Nazzaro said decisions on the firm and suppliers would follow the report. The system had been in use for months, with changes aimed for a pre-summer pilot, though summer's multiple programmes—across Social, Culture and Sports—create the heaviest load.

As of Tuesday, out-of-parish registrations in Andorra la Vella were proceeding smoothly after contacting affected families.