A neighbourhood school in Barcelona’s Sant Martí district will permanently close its doors after over six decades of service, becoming the latest casualty of the city’s falling birth rates and financial pressures on the education sector.
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The Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona, the city’s education authority, confirmed Col·legi Sant Rafael will not reopen for the 2026-2027 academic year. Metrópoli reports that a significant decline in student enrolment is the primary reason for the closure, directly resulting from demographic shifts across Barcelona and Catalonia.
Sant Rafael is an escola concertada, a type of semi-private school common in Spain, receiving state subsidies to help cover operational costs. These schools often play a vital role in local communities, offering an alternative to the fully public and private systems.
A Neighbourhood Fixture Since 1965
Founded in 1965, Col·legi Sant Rafael, located at Carrer de Menorca 80-82 in the Sant Martí district, built a reputation as a “familiar and close-knit” institution. With just one class per year for pupils aged three to twelve, it prided itself on providing personalised, project-based learning and an on-site kitchen for school meals.
Its profile on the school search platform Micole, where it holds a rating of 4.6 out of 5, states the school originated from “an ambition to help others and provide a service to the neighbourhood.” It offered what it described as “quality, secular, and inclusive education.”
A Widening Trend of School Closures
The closure of Sant Rafael is not an isolated event but part of a troubling pattern in Barcelona. As Barna.News has previously reported, Col·legi Miró, another school in the same district, will also close.
In a letter to families, the director of Miró cited not only falling birth rates but also underfunding, delays in receiving aid, and an accumulation of unpaid fees as critical factors.
Other historic city schools have already shut their doors. Escola Mireia, a fixture in the Fort Pienc neighbourhood of the Eixample district for 65 years, announced its definitive closure in January 2025. This followed the 2024 closure of another well-known Eixample institution, Sagrat Cor de Ribes.
Protests Over ‘Chronic Underfunding’
The wave of closures has galvanised a response from the education community. In February, families, teachers, and representatives from escoles concertades protested to demand increased funding and professional support. They argued that a new education law under debate in the Catalan Parliament fails to address the needs of these “social initiative centres.”
Nine organisations, representing over 670 schools and 30,000 workers, presented amendments to the proposed law, denouncing what they term “chronic underfunding” of the semi-private sector.
Meritxell Ruiz, secretary general of the Fundació Escola Cristiana de Catalunya (FECC), highlighted the severity of the financial shortfall. She referenced a landmark 2019 report by the Síndic de Greuges de Catalunya (the Catalan Ombudsman), concluding that state subsidies for concertada schools were 260% below the actual cost of a student place. Ruiz noted that this figure has likely worsened in the years since.
“The small ones are the ones who find it most difficult to survive,” lamented the FECC representative.
For small, neighbourhood-focused schools like Sant Rafael, the combination of fewer children and insufficient funding has created an unsustainable situation. As Barcelona grapples with these twin challenges, the loss of another community school marks a poignant moment for the Sant Martí district and a stark warning for the city’s educational landscape.
