During the period 1970-1971, the town had 42 school units, of which 25 were public, 15 belonged to the Church, and 2 were private. Additionally, there was an ikastola. The total number of students was 910 girls and 812 boys.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the town had an elementary school for boys, endowed with 4,400 reales per year, and a school for girls with 1,500 reales. About 100 boys attended the first school. The teacher lived in the house adjacent to the royal palace, located on the plaza de armas. By the mid-19th century, a second school for girls was established in the Marina district, although it had no financial endowment.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Serapio Múgica described the educational situation: “In the town center, there is a complete coeducational school, in a good building constructed at the expense of the Guipuzcoan philanthropist Pedro de Viteri; in the Marina neighborhood, there is a kindergarten run by a female teacher, and another coeducational school also run by a female teacher, in the Jaizubía neighborhood. In Gurutze and Gaintxurizketa, two other private coeducational schools operate.”
In addition to these schools, three religious orders —the Capuchin Fathers, the Betharram Fathers, and the Sacred Hearts Fathers— educated numerous students and prepared young people for their religious missions. There were also four schools run by nuns: the Daughters of the Cross, the Servants of Mary, the Ursulines of Pau —who had long occupied the magnificent building of the former Hotel Miramar— and the Ladies of Saint Maur. All these communities, except for the Capuchins, were French and settled in Fuenterrabía as a result of the expulsion decreed in France by Waldeck-Rousseau in July 1901.
Finally, the town had the “Blanca de Navarra” school colony, inaugurated in 1934, which ed six summer sessions of 250 children each.