Catalan protesters demand educational separatism

The Catalan education system uses the regional language in class

The new law governing Spanish education, commonly known as the LOMCE, continues to provoke widespread opposition all over the country among students, teachers and parents, and this is especially true in the region of Catalunya. Here a large sector of the population would prefer a separate module for compulsory education from the rest of Spain, including classes given in the Catalan language.

The strength of feeling on this issue in Catalunya was shown again on Saturday, when between 25,000 and 100,000 people took part in a protest march against the LOMCE in Barcelona (as usual, the estimates regarding the number of people taking part differed enormously between the organizers and the forces of law and order). Bearing placards proclaiming support for the Catalan linguistic immersion system, marchers also voiced their support for Mallorca schoolteacher Jaume Sastre, who has been on hunger strike for 40 days in support of the regional system.

As usual in these demonstrations the brunt of the protesters’ wrath was borne by the Minister promulgating the new law, José Ignacio Wert, and among those taking part were representatives of various political parties and the regional minister for education Irene Rigau.

The whole question of language tuition in Catalan schools has been a subject of protest for both points of view for some considerable time, as while some parents would like to see Catalan schools teaching only in Catalan, others feel that their children are placed at a disadvantage when trying to seek work outside of Cataluña if they lack a good level of linguistic ability in Castellano, which is the language spoken virtually everywhere else in Spain, and the language commonly taught and spoken worldwide as “Spanish.”

Although there are other dialects, the neighbouring Autonomous Community of Valencia speaking Valenciano, for example, Castellano is the language used nationally and internationally by the educational system.

In April last year Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) passed a measure to force schools in Cataluña to give classes in both Castellano and Catalan, even if just one pupil in the class requested that the instruction be given in both languages. Previously schools throughout Cataluña gave instruction in Catalan, not Castellano.
The Catalan Education Minister rejected the decision of the court saying that, “the language in the whole classroom cannot change just because one child asks for it,” issuing instructions to the education department to ignore the court ruling and carry on teaching in Catalan.

All of which is inextricably linked to the whole issue of Catalan separatism and the determination of the Catalan government to make decisions of this nature at a local level.
Image: Copyrighted. Full or partial reproduction prohibited. Efe Susanna Sáez