59,000 new pupils to start comprehensive school this autumn
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The summer holidays are inexorably drawing to an end, in spite of the fact that elsewhere in Europe it is still high season, and one signal is that schools are going back this week and next.
According to the Finnish National Board of Education estimate, 59,000 new pupils will begin their comprehensive school education this autumn. The total number of pupils in the country’s comprehensive schools has fallen by roughly 4,000 pupils in the last year.
The number of schools offering primary education, in turn, is being reduced by about a hundred schools per year. Especially small schools with fewer than 50 pupils are disappearing from the map.
Around 32,000 new pupils will begin their upper secondary school education this month.
As a result of the diminishing age-group development the total number of upper secondary school or lukio pupils has been on a steady decline throughout the entire 2000s.
All told, there are 426 upper secondary schools in the country.
Around 50,000 new pupils will begin their vocational school studies this autumn.
The date of the first day of school in Finland’s comprehensive schools can vary by as much as a week, depending on location.
For example in Rovaniemi in Lapland the schools started back already on Wednesday of this week, whereas in the capital area the first day of school is not until next Tuesday.
Helsingin Sanomat
