Education cutbacks mean Spain is falling behind

THE latest report on state education spending has revealed that once again Spain is spending less on schooling.
The Ministry of Education’s Public Spending on State Education Statistics, which has just come out for 2013, revealed that governing boards spent €45.2 billion during the year, €1.2 billion less than the year before.
Since Spain starting bringing in cutbacks on education in 2010 for the first time in 30 years, €7.7 billion less has been spent on teaching staff, classrooms, support and scholarships.
The 2013 spending, 4.31 per cent of the country’s GDP, is falling further and further away from the average percentage for Europe, which was reported to be 5.25 per cent by Eurostat in 2011.
Infant and primary schools received more than a third of the funds available (34.9 per cent), followed by secondary schools and professional training (28.9 per cent) and universities (20.7 per cent).