The return to the classroom , scheduled for about three weeks and on which the uncertainty derived from the Covid-19 pandemic continues to plan , presents at least one certain element: the average price of school supplies that they could have to provide families increases compared to last year, although moderately.
In the event that the 2020-2021 academic year was followed in person, for each student the average cost would be 379.71 euros, compared to the 371.87 euros that were paid in 2019 , which represents an increase of 2, eleven%. This increase is distributed in a very similar way between books (2.23%) and uniforms (2.01%).
The region where the return to school will be the most expensive will be the Valencian Community with 421.29 euros, followed by Catalonia (414.01 euros) and Murcia (399.15 euros).
The largest increases compared to last year, above the average, will be registered in Aragon (3.64%), Navarra (3.12%), Extremadura (3.09%), Castilla-La Mancha (2.61 %), Andalusia (2.59%), the Basque Country (2.42%), Galicia (2.34%) and Catalonia (2.20%), according to the latest report by the bank comparator iAhorro with data from 301 schools throughout Spain, between public, concerted and private education.
The atypical return to school that awaits students this year bears some resemblance to those of the previous economic crisis .
Between 2008 and 2010, for example, families contracted spending on new clothes and uniforms, something that will also happen this September, in the opinion of financial expert Antonio Gallardo.
“Once the course begins, there will also be reductions in expenses in items such as extracurricular activities or excursions, among others, and the economic effort of families will focus more on the basics, such as books and other school supplies,” he explains.
The textbooks whose average price has increased the most are those of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), with a rise of 2.66%, ahead of Early Childhood Education, with 2.16%, and Primary Education, with 1.68%. In this way, in Infant its cost rises to 95.34 euros (against 93.54 euros last year), in Primary it reaches 174.58 euros (171.70 euros in 2019), and in ESO it increases to 244.27 euros (237.94 euros in 2019).
By Autonomous Communities, the data show very large differences. For yet another year, the Valencian Community continues to have the most expensive textbooks, with an average price of 209.16 euros.
In this region, however, at the levels of primary and ESO in public and concerted education, books are free, so this average price represents, above all, the cost they have in private education. They are followed by the Basque Country, with 191.69 euros, and Catalonia, with 183.33 euros.
At the other extreme, the cheapest Autonomous Communities in this area are Castilla-La Mancha (157.81 euros), Madrid (160 euros, especially due to the moderate price of textbooks in public schools), and Extremadura ( 161.12 euros).
With respect to school uniforms , the centers that require them are more and more numerous, a more pronounced increase in public education. Globally, these already represent 62.80% of the report’s sample.
Likewise, this year the average price of uniforms that can be bought in commercial establishments —stores, hypermarkets and department stores—, whether personalized by the center or not, registered an almost imperceptible rise, of just 0.42%; and in some Autonomous Communities there are slight drops.
On the contrary, the uniforms that are sold exclusively in the educational center are 3.44% more expensive.
With all this, the average cost of uniforms in this course is 208.24 euros, compared to 204.14 euros in 2019, with an average price in commercial establishments of 194.53 euros (193.71 euros last year ) and 221.94 euros in schools (214.57 euros, a year ago).
By Autonomous Communities, Navarra is the most expensive, with 230.74 euros, followed very closely by Catalonia (230.68 euros) and Madrid (229.35 euros). On the contrary, the cheapest is Extremadura (187.68 euros), ahead of Asturias (195.13 euros) and the Canary Islands (197.57 euros). The largest increases were recorded in Aragon (3.91%), Castilla-La Mancha (3.52%) and Galicia (3.18%)