A recent report by Save the Children highlights the significant socioeconomic divide between public and subsidized private schools in Spain, marking it as the country with the largest such gap among OECD nations.

The report, based on the latest PISA data, reveals that 21% of school segregation in Spain is due to the socioeconomic disparities between these two types of schools.

This is a stark contrast to other countries with substantial private school networks, like the Netherlands and South Korea, where such differences are contained within each network.

The report identifies the fees charged by subsidized schools as a major barrier for students from vulnerable families, suggesting that these fees contribute significantly to the segregation.

Save the Children proposes measures such as improved funding, real cost-free education, and fair admission processes to address this issue.

The report also notes that while religious schools make up a large portion of the subsidized network, their presence is not necessarily linked to regions with high religiosity, indicating other factors at play in the distribution of these schools.