Some of the best school in Spain are actually in the Marbella region. But these are private schools and fee costs can be very high indeed. Parents can expect to pay out between 200 euros and 5000 euros each month to have their children study in these schools. Not suprisingly therefore, most of the pupils in these schools are the children of wealthy foreign residents who live along the coast.



Some examples of the best private schools in the province of Malaga and Marbella are:- St Anthony's College in Mijas Costa, Colegio Salliver in Fuengirola,Sunny View school in Torremolinos, Colegio El Romeral and Sierra Blanca in Malaga city and Colegio Anoreta in Rincon de la Victoria.

Other examples of private schools include:- Benalmadena International College, Colegio Alboran, Calahonda International College, Aloha College and International College San Pedro.

Most of the children and teachers in private school are bi-lingual. The schools offer the best in sporting activities such as horse-riding, sailing, football, cricket, tennis and most of them also offer the British curriculum.

The public schools in the provinces of Malaga and Marbella are attended by the vast majority of children living in those areas but the fact is that, especially in Marbella, there is a relatively large gap between the very rich and the ordinary middle and working classes. The rich can afford to send their children to expensive schools. Sadly, expense ususally means better quality in terms of extra-curricular activities and general facilities (such as computer suites with internet access, swimming-pools, tennis courts).

The great disadvantage of the public schools is the amount of overcrowding. This seems a problem throughout the Western Costa del Sol, whose population has grown way above the national average over recent decades. The public education system has not been able to keep up with this massive growth in pupil numbers and there is therefore an average of 24 pupils per class.

The obvious answer then is to build more schools to acommodate the growing numbers. But the problem is suitable land upon which to build these new schools. The money must be provided by the Town Hall and approved by the Junta de Andalucia. If there is no suitable land on which to build new schools, then invariably more overcrowding will exist and in the end, it is the children who will suffer.