One in three young people abandon their studies before the end of their secondary education.Catalonia is at the head of this sad list of school failures in Spain and the E.U according to a study carried out by The Jaume Bofill Foundation. If the state average is 30%, here in Catalonia it reaches 34%. Only Malta and Portugal within the E.U are worse.

Experts are ponting the finger at a lack of investment in education here in Catalonia - calling it a great big hole in the education system. And this fact says it all: even Rumania are putting in more effort than Catalonia.

It seems that the majority of students from Primary schools enter secondary education without any problems but when they get to the 4th grade of E.S.O that’s when the problems start with lots of students having to repeat courses.

Another negative piece of data is the percentage of students that graduate the E.S.O is the second lowest in Spain - 69%. Another alarming fact is that 34% of students between 18 and 24 years of age abandon their E.S.O studies effectively relegating Catalonia to last position regarding Spain’s other regions and the rest of Europe.