Andorra PS Demands Data on Pupil Mobility Disrupting Schools

Andorra's opposition Social Democratic Party (PS) has tabled written questions to the government, demanding data on rising pupil mobility and its effects on the education system, as well as measures to safeguard teaching quality and staff working conditions.

The initiative, driven by PS deputy and parliamentary group deputy president Pere Baró, responds to concerns raised by education professionals. They highlight how mid-year enrolments and withdrawals disrupt planned pupil-teacher ratios, complicate academic and social monitoring, increase demands for linguistic and cultural support, and impose extra administrative loads on school directors and teachers.

Baró connects the issue to economic strains, including higher living costs and housing shortages, which he believes drive both arrivals and departures of families with school-age children. Schools, he argues, are becoming key sites for addressing these social fallout effects.

The questions target the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. They seek numbers of mid-year enrolments and withdrawals, deadlines for integrating new pupils, resources allocated for their support, and indicators tracking impacts on ratios, learning outcomes, school organisation, coexistence, and diversity management. Baró also asks whether the government monitors administrative burdens from these changes or has assessed effects on teacher wellbeing, including stress or burnout.

"Educational centres are assuming ever greater roles in reception, integration, and social monitoring that often exceed their organisational capacities and available resources," Baró warned.

The PS stresses the urgency of objective data to gauge threats to pupil continuity and school stability. It calls for the government to evaluate the phenomenon's full scope and ensure schools receive necessary human and material resources. No government reply was available at the time of writing.