In a context of obvious bewilderment in some communities around the Social Security registration of students in professional training practices, the Department of Education of the Basque Government has resolved this situation by taking charge of the registrations of all students from public and charter schools. The Basque Executive points out that all the students who are currently doing internships were registered on January 1, as required by the Organic Social Security Law (LOSU), and that throughout the a total of 23,500 VET students will be registered this year.
Sources from the Department of Education point out, however, that at this moment and due to the professional training calendar, there are few students who have had to be registered, barely a thousand, a number that will multiply in the coming weeks, especially from February. Over the course of the year, almost half of the almost 50,000 students studying VET in public or chartered schools in the Basque Country will finally be registered.
With this decision to take over the registrations of public and charter schools, the Basque Executive has wanted to avoid controversies and preserve the good relationship with the business fabric by reducing bureaucratic burdens, according to Education sources. In the case of the universities, the centers themselves have taken care of managing the registrations of students in practice, not without some complaints in the case of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), a public center that hosts the largest number of university students
Fees for internships at VET and, to a lesser extent, at universities have become a headache in some communities. This obligation to contribute for internships responds to a modification of the general Social Security law included in Royal Decree 2/2023 on pension reform. It was approved in March and should have entered into force in October. Several autonomous communities, however, requested a moratorium and the date was postponed until January 1. This term, however, has not been sufficient.
In Catalonia, the employers’ association Foment del Treball lamented the “lack of foresight and planning” of the Generalitat, while denouncing “confusion, insecurity and concern” in the educational community, companies and families. Education announced that it would take over the management of enrollments, but that it would only do so with publicly owned schools. As they argued, technically the Generalitat cannot give admissions and dismissals on behalf of a privately owned centre.
These complaints have been repeated in other communities, which refer mainly to administrative problems and not so much to the economic question. Not surprisingly, in the case of FP, during the present 2024 the Social Security will subsidize 95% of the contributions and the Ministry of Education will finance the remaining 5%.
This context of confusion has forced the Government to move, extending until March 31 the deadline to make the contributions effective, although the students will have the Social Security registration date on the day the internships begin. The doubt is whether this time the new moratorium will be sufficient.
