Concern among Spanish schools in Spain about the short-term consequences of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
Spain receives thousands of students from many countries intending to study Spanish and do a linguistic immersion in Spain. The teaching of Spanish as a foreign language (ELE) is being significantly influenced by the policies of closing borders in some countries, with vast cancellations of students that affect not only schools but also a considerable number of dependent businesses.
In 2019, the schools associated with FEDELE (Spanish Federation of Associations of Schools of Spanish for Foreigners) received more 138,000 students according to the data recorded in the sector report carried out by the FEDELE and published on March 6 during the Annual Convention where they mentioned hundred centres and schools. The data showed an increase of 15% compared to the previous year.
The coronavirus calamity has reached Spain just when the highest period for the arrival of students begins. The effects will be seen in the short, medium and long term, since at present there are students who have cancelled their study trips for several reasons, including Italy, the sending country of the majority of students in this dates. According to updated data from the federation, student cancellations are around 80% in some areas of the country, with millions in losses and imminent layoffs.
Not only the teaching of Spanish is being affected, but also all companies that rely on language tourism, which is understood as the set of activities that people carry out during their trips and stays, in order to make a linguistic immersion in a new language. It is worth emphasising that among affected business there are the host families, student residences, monitors, guides, restaurants, transport, commerce, leisure, etc.
Even though the main incentive of students is the learning or improvement of Spanish, many students arrive in groups and have a tendency to book “language immersion” packages of between a week to a month in duration, where around the classes they do a whole range of cultural, historical and gastronomic activities in the place, with the benefits being distributed among different actors of the local, regional and national economy.
In the abovementioned, the data collected between its associated centres concerning cancellations was evaluated the latest data registered and analyse the problem, underlining the high number of cancellations that occur on a gigantic scale every day. Besides, the economic outcomes where revenue loss was recorded, the impact of Covid-19 has had a direct impact on employment, producing hundreds of layoffs that have affected many families throughout the national territory, due to the drastic drop in students and the uncertainty created.
From FEDELE and its associated schools, a message of calm is requested from the authorities since 90% of the negative effects of this crisis will not come from the contagion of the virus, but from the decisions derived from the action to prevent Covid-19. FEDELE emphasises that Spain continues to be a safe destination and trusts that the institutions that have in place anti-covid safety policies for international students. Likewise, work has already begun on an action plan in the face of such uncertainty to return to normality as soon as possible, as the economic and social impact in the sector derived from the coronavirus is incalculable.
