IMMIGRATION-SPAIN: Barred from the Classrooms in Madrid and Valencia

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Nov 10 2004 (IPS) - Activists, teachers and politicians with the ruling socialist party in Spain are worried about a decision by authorities in schools in the provinces of Madrid and Valencia, which are governed by the centre-right Popular Party, to bar undocumented immigrants who have completed the 10 years of compulsory schooling from continuing their education.

Spain should open up possibilities for immigrants living in the country, and to do so, “education is indispensable, because true integration (in Spanish society) is based on having the necessary skills to compete in the labour market in equal conditions,” Maravilla Martínez Doncel, a PSOE (socialist party) deputy in the Madrid provincial legislature, told IPS.

“Barring them from enrolling is just one more way of setting obstacles in front of immigrants to keep them from becoming what Spain needs: people with the highest possible level of education and training, regardless of where they come from and whether or not they have the proper immigration documents,” she argued.

Whatever their legal status, all minors under 16 living in Spain must complete the six years of primary school and four years of compulsory secondary school.

It is then optional to go on to either the two-year baccalaureate or vocational training.

Completion of the baccalaureate and a university entrance exam are requisites for entering university, where students can earn either a three-year “diplomatura” or a five-year “licenciatura” degree.

If minors are not enrolled in school or do not attend class, the law states that their parents or guardians are guilty of neglect, and an investigation is called for, which can lead to loss of custody.

But regulations like the ones in place in the province of Madrid establish that foreign students must present a residency permit, a “foreigner’s identity number”, a “foreigner’s card” or a student visa in order to enroll in the baccalaureate or vocational training courses.

There are currently around 100,000 students who lack such papers, according to the America-Spain Solidarity and Cooperation Association (AESCO).

This non-governmental organisation reported that in Madrid alone there are 3,800 youngsters who have had to drop out of school or were not enrolled this year because their parents entered Spain as undocumented immigrants, and the children therefore lack the required documents.

Spokespersons for AESCO said that many of the nearly 4,000 youngsters showed up in September to enroll and were turned away.

Madrid and Valencia, two of the 17 provinces or “autonomous communities” into which Spain is divided, have the highest numbers of immigrants, according to the National Institute of Statistics and the Government Delegation on Aliens.

In Madrid there are 589,215 immigrants “empadronados” or registered with city governments. (This means any person, including undocumented immigrants, registered as living within the city limits). Of that total, only 355,035 have the required immigration documents. In Valencia, 233,749 of a total of 413,760 registered immigrants have their papers in order.

“It makes no sense for students who have completed (the four years of compulsory secondary education) to be kept from continuing their studies,” Javier Carrascal, a spokesman for the National Association of Teachers (ANPE), which describes itself as an independent trade union, told IPS.

After clarifying that he would not discuss the law on aliens and the regulations based on the law “because that is a political matter that the competent authorities must resolve,” he stressed that teachers “don’t care about the nationality of students, because for us they are all the same.”

Officials in the provincial government of Madrid say they are studying the situation, to come up with a solution.

But a spokesman for the provincial ministry of education in Valencia denied to IPS that there is a specific ban prohibiting young immigrants without legal documents from enrolling in the two-year baccalaureate or vocational studies.

The official said that what is occurring is that in order to enroll in those courses, youngsters must prove that they have completed the compulsory years of secondary education, “and if they fail to present certificates or documents which demonstrate that, they cannot be enrolled.”

One of the possible solutions under consideration is to have the students in questions sit an exam, and reach a decision on whether or not to enroll them depending on the results.

But refusal to enroll students who do not have their immigration papers in order can be argued to have a legal foundation, depending on how Spain’s laws are interpreted.

For that reason the Spanish government headed since May by socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero plans to implement, starting in early 2005, new regulations based on the law on aliens that was enacted under the administration of José María Aznar (1994-2004), of the centre-right PP.

The draft regulations, expected to be approved by parliament before year-end, will open a door for undocumented immigrants to regularise their legal status. They also include a chapter on education.

The law on aliens states that “all foreigners have a right to basic, free and compulsory education, to the corresponding diplomas, and to access to the public system of scholarships and aid.”

But when it refers to “non-compulsory education”, the law does not specify “all foreigners” but merely says “foreigners”.

The draft regulations, however, clearly state that “the autonomous communities can facilitate access to post-compulsory non-university education by foreign minors who are ’empadronados’ in a municipality.”

Thus, if the regulations are approved, immigrants who are “empadronados” or registered will have access to non-compulsory secondary education even if they lack the necessary immigration documents, although those who are not “empadronados” will continue to be excluded.

Unofficial statistics indicate that there are some 200,000 immigrants in Spain who are not “empadronados” in the towns and cities where they reside, despite the fact that to register they do not need a residency permit or visa.