Santiago de Compostela, 4 September 2026 — Galicia’s regional government has announced a support package for families at the start of the school year. The education minister of the Xunta de Galicia, Román Rodríguez, speaking during a visit to the Colexio Lamas de Abade announced that €27 million would be made available for schoolbooks and other teaching materials. According to the administration, support in this area amounts to 313,000 instances during the current school year.
The measures are divided across several schemes. The Fondo solidario for the lending and reuse of textbooks, free digital resources under the E-Dixgal programme and vouchers for materials together account for just under €15 million and are reported to provide more than 233,000 instances of support. In addition, direct grants for non-reusable books amount to €5.7 million for around 20,000 beneficiaries, while tax relief, according to the Xunta, reaches about 60,000 households and is estimated at around €6.3 million. In total, the regional government counts education support worth more than €145 million.
Rodríguez also highlighted support for school meals: the Xunta provides an additional €150 for families using catering services run by external providers. A second scheme of €100 for certain income groups has also been announced for the 2026/27 school year. The minister also pointed to increases in school staffing: at the start of this school year there were 1,012 new teachers have joined educational institutions.
The government justifies the package as a means of ensuring equal opportunities and easing the burden on families at the start of the school year. The figures cited and the date of the announcement are based on the Xunta de Galicia’s official statement; regional media reports on 4 September 2026 gave the same key details. It remains unclear how evenly the funds are available in smaller municipalities, how efficiently they are distributed locally, and to what extent the tax relief will in practice reach all the households mentioned. These implementation issues are crucial to the programmes’ impact and can only be assessed as the school year progresses.
The presentation in Santiago de Compostela marks the immediate occasion; previously approved schemes such as the Fondo solidario and E-Dixgal form part of the measures now brought together.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).