Education department agrees to delay start of next school year until September 9

Pupils will go back to school for the next academic year on September 9, Catalan education minister Anna Simó announced at a meeting with representatives from the sector on Wednesday. 

This will give schools five working days in September to prepare before students return, with the education department thereby complying with a request from education unions. 

The department insisted that the first day of term must before the September 11 bank holiday for Catalonia's National Day, known as the Diada in Catalan.  

Former education minister Josep González Cambray, however, had established that the start of the school year was always on the fourth working day, which in 2024, would be Thursday, September 5. 

Compromise  

In a letter to the School Council, Simó said that her decision takes into account the "demand to have five working days in September to prepare" while at the same time "always starting from the premise that there would not be a return to starting the year after the Diada." 

Simó said she appreciated the council's contribution to the improvement of the education system and would undertake to continue to work "always listening to the opinion of the educational community."