Malaga education: 2026 enrolment starts with 1,500 fewer places

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The ratio in the second cycle of pre-school education will drop to 22 pupils per class, leading to 152 new classrooms

Matías Stuber

Monday, 2 March 2026, 14:50

The enrolment process for new students in the 580 publicly funded schools in Malaga province starts with 1,500 fewer places than last year (from 16,100 to 14,600). The deadline for new enrolments is 31 March.

According to data provided by the Andalusian regional government, a total of 262,069 publicly funded places are available in the province, of which 81.56 per cent correspond to public schools and 18.44 per cent to subsidised schools.

The Andalusian education system will gain at least 152 new classrooms in the second cycle of pre-school in the 2026/2027 academic year as a result of the lowering of the ratio to 22 pupils per class.

From next year and progressively in primary school, Andalusian classrooms will have a maximum of 22 pupils instead of 25. This measure allows teachers to have more time for each pupil and greater capacity to detect learning difficulties and special needs.

Regarding complementary services, the number of schools in the province of Malaga will remain almost the same for the next academic year: 311 schools will offer early morning care; 387 offer school lunch; and 333 (one fewer than this year) offer extracurricular activities.

The number of schools across Andalucía offering early morning care has increased by 202 since the 2019/20 academic year, while those offering school lunch and extracurricular activities have increased by 117 and 25, respectively.

Enrolment

Enrolment begins with the publication of vacant school places, as well as information on the cadastral addresses in their areas of influence and neighbouring areas. When supply matches or exceeds demand, full admission can take place. If supply cannot meet demand, the school will publish a ranking.

Each school has until 20 April to publish the list of applicants with the assigned score. From that date, parents have ten school days to present objections.

If ties occur after applying the score criteria (siblings at the school, family or work address, annual income, disability, large or single-parent family or family with two children, legal guardians with paid employment, enrolment in the first cycle of early childhood education and academic record in secondary education), the school will use a public draw to choose successful applicants on 13 May.

The final list of admitted students will be published on 14 May.

Parents can find information on schools, courses, complementary services and application forms through Portal de la Escolarización on the regional ministry of education's website.

In addition, families can track their applications through the iEscolariza APP. For more information, the regional ministry has set up a free information telephone number (900 848 000), open 24 hours a day from 8am to 7pm.