School-age children evacuated from Grazalema will return to classes in Ronda, Olvera and Ubrique

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School's been 'out' for these children since Thursday last week, so the Junta's educational development department has plans underway for schooling around 70 pupils in the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz until all can return home ·

Rafael Aguilar

Seville

Friday, 13 February 2026, 15:24

Just over a week ago today they had their last class. The 70 or so infant, primary and secondary pupils of Grazalema have had their second term abruptly interrupted due to the river of storms bearing down on their village, leading to evacuation orders. Last Thursday they packed their bags in a hurry and, by the afternoon or early evening, they'd left their homes for Ronda , where the Junta de Andalucía and Ronda town hall had provided a sports pavilion to accommodate them, or they headed to the homes of relatives in other nearby municipalities. "It's going to drag on," said Antonio Sanz, regional minister for emergencies among other responsibilities, this week, referring to the relocation of the residents, some 1,500 of them. The reason given by Sanz is that the experts are still carrying out field tests to determine the cause of the seismic movements in the village's streets, which they suggest are due to water saturation in the aquifers under the buildings.

Sanz made it clear that the regional government will not authorise any return home for these families until safety is guaranteed.

So, what about academic work in the meantime? The Junta's educational development department is working on all possible scenarios, as official sources assured Sur, although it seems clear that the chances of children and teenagers being able to resume classes in Grazalema are pretty slim for the time being.

"Decisions are being taken at the expense of the technical reports we have yet to receive on the stabilisation or status of the land."

Thus, the option that is gaining more weight is to relocate these pupils to educational centres where they are temporarily located. In the meantime, they are getting by with online classes. School leaders at Colegio Público Antonio Machado and secondary school (IES) Sierra de Grazalema , plus the nursery school, have tried online classes without success since the storm broke with normal routine. Many pupils do not have the tech resources to hand to follow such classes.

Antonio Sanz himself explained at this Wednesday's press conference following the meeting of the Junta's governing council that the educational development department is drawing up an action plan for Grazalema displaced pupils and students. The plan envisages for the "immediate" term developing some distance learning, meaning online teaching and learning along the lines of what was implemented during the 2020 pandemic.

Dispersion issue

For the medium to long term, other measures are envisaged, such as that these students, who are "completely dispersed" between towns such as Ronda, Zahara, El Gastor, Benahavís and Estepona , are brought into classes that follow the same curriculum that was running back home, if not in those towns, then in others such as Ubrique or Olvera .

"Decisions are being taken at the expense of the technical reports that we have yet to receive on whether the situation is stabilising, both for the land and the houses in Grazalema. What we have planned is different types of actions, because the pupils are sp spread out," explained Sanz.

Three possible scenarios have been established, one "immediate" and two others in the event of their return "in the medium and long term". Regarding the most imminent, Sanz said that it would be done through online services, noting that "we always tell them that classes are suspended, that face-to-face teaching is suspended because, when it lasts several days, that is the case, but we then activate monitoring the pupils' studies via online means", therefore, he concluded, "teaching activity is still going on".

What's immediate and what's possible

In this regard, Sanz gave details on what is "pending", meaning these new technical reports still to come. He acknowledged that the decision-making process regarding how stable is the situation in Grazalema is "very complex". "It is not a political decision, it is a wholly technical decision", he stated, nodding to the professional experts from Spain's nationalresearchcouncil (CSIC) who are specialists in hydrological emergencies and earth movements. "Based on their findings, we will make the decision," he said.

Antonio Sanz mentioned again the urgency of restoring teaching activity for all these school-age children displaced by the storms, albeit via online assistance.

The second level would be in the medium term, reaching a third level where "if people have that level of displacement between so many towns, it may lead to the scenario of looking for a place in Ronda to develop some teaching activity", which "has already been looked at". For the other cases elsewhere, they will seek to "integrate them into the classrooms following the same course where they are located to try to make it easier for families not to have to travel". So, if the child is in Zahara de la Sierra , they are accommodated into classrooms in that village.

The Junta's initial talks with the parents of the displaced students have not been very productive, because most remain unconvinced that their children should be taught in a school other than their own. Currently, that wish is impracticable because of the weather risk.