The right turns to the demonstration in Barcelona in defense of Castilian in the classroom | Catalonia
The Escuela de Todos platform —which brings together different entities in Catalonia that reject the linguistic immersion model, such as the Assembly for a Bilingual School (AEB), Societat Civil or Impulso Ciudadano— has called a demonstration this Sunday in Barcelona to demand, as synthesizes its motto, that “Spanish is also vehicular” at school. That is to say, that some subject is taught in Spanish, beyond that of the Spanish Language. The conveners have organized the march after the approval in the Parliament of the new law on the use of official languages, which continues to consider Catalan the only vehicular language, although for the first time it qualifies Spanish as a “curricular language”. This new status means that Spanish can be used in subjects other than Spanish Language, something that is left to the discretion of the centers based on the sociolinguistic reality of each one. With this law -in which the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) sees “indications of unconstitutionality”-, the Generalitat has avoided for the moment complying with the sentence that forced to guarantee the vehicle status of Castilian by imparting a minimum of 25 % of classes in that language. The PP, Ciudadanos and Vox have mobilized to support the march.
Escuela de Todos organized the mobilization in June, after the Parliament —with the support of the pro-independence parties, En Comú Podem and the PSC, which make up 106 of the 135 deputies— approved the new law and the Catalan government promoted a decree-law in the same direction. The call was settled once the coordinator of entities confirmed that the Government of Pedro Sánchez would not appeal the law to the Constitutional Court —which could have paralyzed its application—, after exposing that position at the dialogue table with the Generalitat. After the approval of the law in Parliament, the TSJC concluded that the 25% ruling is for the time being inapplicable and submitted it to the Constitutional Court to rule on whether the Generalitat has incurred in “fraud of law” in order to evade compliance with the sentence.
The PSC defends the new law, so it will not support the demonstration. The socialists argue that, for the first time, Castilian will have the category of “language of learning”. “The language plans are used based on the sociolinguistic reality of each center,” say party sources. The conveners stress, however, that the Generalitat “does not respect the legal system and the multiple rulings” of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Superior Court of Catalonia which, for more than 30 years, have made it fundamental that Spanish must be “vehicular ”.
The march will be attended by Cuca Gamarra, number two of the PP; Inés Arrimadas, leader of Ciudadanos; and Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox. Alberto Núñez Feijoo has excused his attendance as the demonstration coincides with an inter-parliamentary meeting of the PP in Toledo. In addition, the march has the support of the writers Félix de Azúa and Mario Vargas Llosa; playwright and actor Albert Boadella; the philosopher Fernando Savater, and the economist Gonzalo Bernardos. The convening platform explained that seven coaches have been chartered: two from Alicante, one from Madrid, another from Zaragoza and one from each Catalan province. The march will start from Arc de Triomf and will end next to the Parc de la Ciutadella. Despite the presence of political leaders, the main banner will be carried by families who have requested 25% of Spanish in their children’s schools.
One of these fathers is Jordi López, from Prat de Llobregat. His eldest son was diagnosed with learning problems and the experts, he says, assured him that his son would advance further in school if the teaching was in his mother tongue, Spanish. After thinking about it a lot, he decided to resort to the AEB (of which he is currently a member) to legally claim 25% of Spanish for his two children. “It was hard for us to make the decision. We knew it would cause rejection at school, ”he explains. The judges granted it a year ago for the youngest, and at the end of last year for the eldest son. However, at the beginning of this academic year, the Department of Education of the Generalitat dangerously encourages schools to stop applying the 25% because, in their opinion, it contradicts the new law. In the class of López’s eldest son, therefore, he has stopped applying the measure; the youngest son maintains it because his school has preferred not to heed the Generalitat’s order until it has a judicial notification.
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The figure of 25% of Spanish in Catalan classrooms was set for the first time by the Superior Court of Catalonia in 2014. Until then, several Constitutional and Supreme rulings had forced the Generalitat to change the model to guarantee that Spanish, and not only Catalan, it was vehicular, but without establishing how to do it. Given the silence of the Generalitat, the TSJC set that minimum of 25% in 2014, and that percentage began to be applied, but only in the classes of students whose families requested it. At the end of 2020, the justice system sharpened the obligation of 25% of Spanish to the entire educational system, a sentence that should become effective at the end of last year. The Government and the parties in favor of immersion set out to avoid its application by approving a parliamentary law and a decree law on the use of languages in schools; These two norms recognized Castilian as “curricular” but not “vehicular”, and rejected any percentage in the use of languages. Both are now in the hands of the Constitutional Court to assess their legality.
With this regulatory framework in hand, the Department of Education will consider that the previous sentences, those that will affect particular cases, are no longer applicable, and will notify the TSJC, which has not yet ruled. However, the Generalitat did not wait and before the start of the academic year it informed the affected schools —27 centers and 48 students— that they stopped applying the 25%. However, only seven centers, according to figures from the AEB collected from the affected families, have complied with the order of the Generalitat. One of the students who has been left without 25% is the son of Jordi López, a decision that outrages the father. “The Generalitat is nobody to take away from children the rights granted by a court,” he complains.
López, 51, studied EGB at a time when linguistic deepening did not exist. “He only had two hours in Catalan,” he says. And I admit that he doesn’t speak Catalan because it’s hard for him. He does not agree with the linguistic immersion model which, on paper, states that classes must be taught in Catalan, with the exception of Spanish Language (although in practice, studies by the educational inspectorate reveal that this is not the case and that many teachers changes to Spanish on some occasions), because he considers that it excludes Spanish. “We are trying our language [el castellano] as a foreign language”, complains this father, who is committed to an equitable presence of languages: 33% Spanish, Catalan and English. He believes that his children “have a duty to learn Catalan, but also in Spanish”, and he wants them “to speak and write both languages equally”. He admits that Catalan, with which they only have contact at school, “is very difficult for them”. According to him, the linguistic immersion model “harms his children”, although he admits that he has not noticed any change in the course that his son has had 25%. Likewise, he questions the diagnostic tests of the system that indicate that students finish ESO mastering both languages. “I don’t believe it, it’s not logical,” he says.
The AEB is informing the TSJC of the centers that are ceasing to apply the sentences and is finalizing a criminal lawsuit against those responsible for the Department of Education and the directors of the educational centers.
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