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Spanish youth worst in class for school dropouts

Young Spaniards have the highest school dropout rate in the whole of the EU, according to new figures published by the official European statistics body Eurostat.

Spanish youth worst in class for school dropouts

The report, which looked at the student dropout rate in all member states, found that Spain was the worst in the class with 24.9% of pupils quitting school prematurely in 2012.

Malta and Portugal were the next worst offenders with a 22.6 percent and 20.8 percent leave school without completing their studies.

In Spain the school leaving age is set at 16, with students having the choice to stay on until 18 to study for the "Bachillerato".

Eurostat's research, which was published on Thursday, highlighted that boys were 24 percent more likely than girls to cut short their studies in all member states.

Although the number of young Spanish leaving the classroom fell by 1,6 percent compared to 2011 figures, Rajoy's government will still struggle to reach the 15 percent dropout rate they plan to achieve by 2020.
 
Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia came top of the class after recording  the lowest levels in the EU for school dropouts.

Another recent study by Spanish recruiting agency Asemepleo found that nearly 33 percent fewer young people are now actively seeking work than when the crisis hit in the third quarter of 2007 and other figures, published in Spanish media on Monday show more and more students are also going abroad to study.

Spain’s crippling crisis has seen the number of Spanish youths (aged between 15 and 29) who do not hold a job or a place on a study or training course increase.

Known in Spain as ‘ninis’, meaning ‘neither-nor’, the European Union has officially dubbed them as NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

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Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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