The mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, was at the CEIP San Bartolomé school on Monday, to welcome the start of the 2023/2024 school year, along with a number of his councillors.

He was welcomed by the Centre Director, Antonio Zamora and all members of the school staff, as well as a number of parents and students, who had organised a short music festival to mark the occasion.

In addressing the assembly, the councillor for Social Welfare, Agustina Rodríguez, spoke of ongoing relief aid that was being carried out in Morocco. She said that “during the day we have prepared a number of different activities to welcome the students and their families, while we also want to show solidarity with the Moroccan families who attend the school, and who are going through a very difficult time, carrying out a campaign of collection of blankets, food and everything that the people of Morocco might need.”

The Councilor for Education, Vicente Pina, added that “it is exciting to see the enthusiasm of the students who are starting a new school year today, as well as all the staff that make up the Educational Community, and it is a pleasure to be able to share a day like today with all of them.”

Pina spoke of the schooling numbers for the municipality of Orihuela, highlighting the increase of more than 1,074 students, compared to 2022.

He said that the municipality has started the new school year with 13,726 students enrolled, Infant Schools (0-3 years old) have 288 students, including the two Conselleria schools and the two municipal ones. In Primary Education (2-5 years), enrolled students’ number 1,753, while in Primary Education (6-11 years) the figure reaches 3,727 students.

On the Orihuela Costa there are 373 students enrolled in Early Childhood Education, 1,010 students in Primary, which adds up to a total of 7,151 students, representing an increase of 449 compared to last year.

The Councilor also shared the data on students enrolled in ESO and Baccalaureate, as well as Training Cycles in this new school year, a total of 6,575 students, an increase of 625 compared to the previous year. The total number of ESO students in Orihuela city is 2,805 and there are 588 on the coast, while the Baccalaureate students in the city are 1,102 and 122 on the coast. In Vocational Training Cycles, there are 1,876 students enrolled in Orihuela City and 82 on the coast.

Finally, the mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, stated that “a new school year begins today and from the Orihuela Council we have made a great effort to ensure that everything runs smoothly, and to guarantee the many different school projects.