It is, in the words of the Basque Government, that the student is “a process that will spread progressively throughout the educational system” from the time he enters the classrooms of 2 years, but “in no case will it be thought that the pupils in one school can move to another”.

In the enrollment process of 2-year-old boys and girls, the main changes are as follows for the 2023-2024 course. All centres must reserve a number of places for the education of vulnerable pupils, as determined by the Department of Education (equal percentage of reservations for all centres in the same area of influence). The Vulnerability Index has also been launched: all families should complete the survey on their socio-economic situation (questions are not specified, but the family is not asked about income) and the information collected will define the Vulnerability Index, that is, which students are considered vulnerable and which are not.

In the layout there is a change in the preference for proximity: if the chosen center is the closest center to the family home, it will have 7 points and if you choose another center of the influence area you will get 5 points. Until now, the fact that the residence is in the area of influence gave 6 points.

However, families will have no limit in the choice of the center: the Administration “will try to offer each student a center by family default, and only if there is no possibility of schooling in those selected would another center with the characteristics marked and close to the student’s place of residence”.

As noted at the beginning, the same criteria will be followed as in the registration process, even for students who wish to attend school after the start of the course, regardless of the level.

Critical of changes

Changes in the registration process have been carried out in order to deal with the problem of segregation, but there are some agents who look at it with mistrust. From the Harro platform of the Basque Public School we were told: “In the new enrolments it affects 2 and 3 year students of Early Childhood Education and at these ages some characteristics can be identified to qualify them as vulnerable (e.g. the socioeconomic and cultural index of the family), others cannot. It also affects students who register late, but still today a management commission decides at which center, supposedly in a balanced way, those students who have come along the course are enrolled”.