€70 voucher scheme for high school and primary school students next year 

The school voucher scheme will be extended to ESO (high school) students next year and will be set at €70 for all students, including primary school pupils. 

As reported by Catalan public broadcaster TV3 and confirmed by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), it is one of the measures to be announced by Catalan president Pere Aragonès on Tuesday, during parliament's general policy debate. 

The school vouchers can be used towards the purchase of things like stationery, textbooks, calculators, backpacks or educational games. 

This school year, €100 vouchers were awarded to primary school pupils only, but the government is expanding it to students in 1st to 4th year of ESO (12- to 16-year-olds), albeit at a lower value of €70. 

According to the government, 330,000 secondary school students will join the 460,000 primary school students benefitting from the scheme, in both public and semi-private (concertada) schools. 

A total of 790,000 students will therefore benefit, with the measure costing up to €55m. 

Minimize impact of inflation 

With this measure, the government wants to minimize the impact of inflation and price increases, and help families with expenses related to education. 

The executive believes this year's school voucher has been a success but plans to introduce improvements for next year. 

Aragonès also plans to announce the government intensify efforts to work with local councils in order to open new public pre-school places. Two years ago, Aragonès introduced free nursery school education for I2 (2 year olds).