The rising need for adult education

Throughout the boom years pupils abandoned their studies at school to go and work in either the lucrative construction industry or in the service sector. In the Alicante region, where construction was at its height, up to 50% of male students failed to graduate in secondary education.

Now, those young people are flocking to adult education to gain the qualifications that they missed. In particular, they are looking for courses in English.

Since the adult school at Bigastro closed last year and the one at Redován has closed this year, students are turning to Orihuela and the IES Thader school. Numbers of enrolments have increased from 400 to 1,000 and some courses are vastly oversubscribed e.g. English.