Briefing
The regional government of Extremadura reported that the vast majority of schools began the 2026/27 school year as scheduled on 10 September. According to the Junta de Extremadura 164,624 pupils returned to non-university education; the start for the first year of the Bachillerato is staggered across the region, with 11 September 2026 being the start date at several centres. The minister responsible for education and vocational training, Sandra Valencia, described the overall result as “very positive” and highlighted that school bus routes largely operated as normal at the start of term.
This followed a politically contentious tendering process for school transport in the run-up to the start of term. The Junta arranged additional tenders and emergency contracts to cover routes still outstanding. According to the regional administration, many of these procedures were completed in time, meaning there were generally no backlogs at bus stops. Minister Valencia stressed that the measures had prevented pupils from missing the start of lessons.
However, independent reports and regional media reported a few exceptions: there were occasional delays in some towns, where companies and opposition parties criticised organisational bottlenecks, tight tendering deadlines and financial pressures. One specific case was the municipality of Zahínos where the start of lessons was locally postponed because construction work was ongoing at a school building; the Junta noted that such cases were limited to particular areas and did not affect the overall start of term.
The regional government announced that it would continue working in parallel with the school term to consolidate outstanding tenders and make adjustments to contract arrangements. Official Junta documents set 10 September 2026 as the start of general teaching activities for most year groups; further adjustments for specialist courses and individual schools remain possible. Overall, the available sources indicate that the return to lessons in Extremadura was largely orderly.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).