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<h1 class="gmail-articulo-titulo" id="gmail-articulo-titulo">Spanish government plans to end “Catalan-only” school language policy</h1>
<div class="gmail-articulo-subtitulos"><h2 class="gmail-articulo-subtitulo">The region’s controversial system could be altered by Madrid as part of its takeover of regional self-rule</h2>
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Madrid
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Barcelona
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<time datetime="2018-02-16T17:04:33+01:00" class="gmail-articulo-actualizado">
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16 FEB 2018 - 17:04 <abbr title="Central European Time">CET</abbr> </a>
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<img src="https://ep01.epimg.net/politica/imagenes/2018/02/15/actualidad/1518702977_860940_1518703136_noticia_normal.jpg" alt="Under the plans, parents would be able to request that their children be taught in Spanish." width="980" height="652">
<figcaption class="gmail-foto-pie"> <span class="gmail-foto-texto">Under the plans, parents would be able to request that their children be taught in Spanish.</span> <span class="gmail-foto-firma"><span class="gmail-foto-autor">CONSUELO BAUTISTA</span> </span></figcaption>
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<p>Catalan separatists’ inability to form a government following the
December 21 election is prolonging Madrid’s control over regional
affairs, a situation that began after the Catalan parliament declared
unilateral independence in late October.</p>
<p>This increases the possibility that the central government – which <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/02/15/inenglish/1518685467_049400.html">now oversees everything</a>
from the Catalan public healthcare system to its firefighting
contingency plans – will end up making changes to the region’s
controversial education policies.</p>
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<p>We are sensitive to the problem and we will soon announce a decision</p>
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<p class="gmail-autor_cita">Marcial Marín, State Secretary for Education</p>
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<p>For years, these policies – which favor the use of Catalan at school
over Castilian Spanish – have attracted criticism from non-nationalist
parents, some of whom went to court to demand their right to choose.
Despite winning their cases, the Catalan government has always refused
to offer this option.</p>
<p>While the topic had been mostly taboo at the political level, Ciudadanos, <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/02/09/inenglish/1518186025_551785.html">the pro-unity party</a>
that won the most votes at the December election in Catalonia, is now
openly demanding changes to correct what it views as a pro-independence
bias in regional education guidelines.</p>
<p>Now, Spain’s education minister, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo – who is
temporarily acting as Catalan education chief – is analyzing formulas
that would allow families residing in Catalonia to choose Spanish as the
main language of learning for their children.</p>
<p>At a press conference following the Friday Cabinet meeting, Méndez de
Vigo said that the Spanish executive is committed to guaranteeing
parents’ right to school their children in Spanish to the extent
provided for by legal resolutions in Catalonia. But he did not provide
any details of how this will be accomplished.</p>
<p>“There will be no changes to a linguistic model that was approved by a
parliament; the government cannot modify a law that was approved by the
regional chamber,” he said.</p>
<p>Student enrollment normally takes place in late March and early
April. If no government is formed in Catalonia by then, Madrid will be
in charge of managing this process.</p>
<h3>An old debate</h3>
<p>The news triggered an immediate reaction by separatist parties. The
group headed by ousted Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont, Junts per
Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), and the Catalan Republican Left
(ERC) expressed confidence that they will soon reach a governing deal
that will prevent these kinds of changes from taking place.</p>
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<p>We ask that education not be used as a weapon in the political battle</p>
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<p class="gmail-autor_cita">Ramon Font, teacher</p>
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<p>The issue of language at Catalan schools had already been <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2011/09/15/inenglish/1316064042_850210.html">cause for debate long before</a>
the independence drive got underway. In 2012, the education minister at
the time, José Ignacio Wert – also remembered for having the lowest
popularity ratings of any minister in Spain’s democratic history – made <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2012/12/12/inenglish/1355315558_192738.html">a controversial statement</a> about his plans to “<em>hispanicize</em> Catalan students” and make them “just as proud to be Spanish as to be Catalan.”</p>
<p>One option on Méndez de Vigo’s table is to include a new checkbox in
student-enrollment documents letting parents choose the main language of
learning for their children.</p>
<p>“We’re working on it,” said Marcial Marín, secretary of state for
education, at a Thursday press conference where he was asked about the
matter. “We are sensitive to the problem and we will soon announce a
decision.”</p>
<p>But Ciudadanos, which began life as a Catalan non-nationalist party
before making the jump to national politics, says that this measure
falls short.</p>
<p>“This box must exist but it is not enough, we can’t make an aesthetic
change and leave it at that,” said Marta Martín, a congresswoman for
Ciudadanos.</p>
<p>“I hope that what PM Rajoy did not do in six years, and what neither
the Popular Party nor the Socialist Party did for decades, will finally
be done now. We are asking the government to introduce trilingualism in
the 2018-2019 school year,” tweeted Ciudadanos party leader Albert
Rivera, alluding to the use of Catalan, Spanish and English in the
schoolrooms.</p>
<h3>Bad news</h3>
<p>But the plans were not well received in separatist circles.</p>
<p>“If the government uses Article 155 to blow up linguistic immersion,
it will be evident that it wishes to continue hurting Catalonia. It will
also evidence our own irresponsibility in failing to form a
government,” said Joan Tardà, an ERC leader who sits in Spain’s national
Congress in Madrid.</p>
<p>“It is urgent to have a government in the coming weeks,” added Jordi
Xuclà, another congressman who represents the separatist European
Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDeCAT).</p>
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<h4 class="gmail-sumario-titulo"><span class="gmail-sin_enlace">How the system works</span></h4>
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<p>In Catalonia, Catalan is the main working language at school. Spanish
language is taught for two hours a week in elementary school, three
hours a week in secondary school and two hours a week at the
pre-university level. As for the other subjects, teachers may choose
which language to use in the classroom.</p>
<p>Families wishing to educate their children in Spanish have to go
through a complicated administrative procedure that involves requesting a
subsidy to enroll in a private school. According to Catalan education
department data, there were 560 requests made in the last three school
years, and 50 were approved.</p>
<p>A 2000 ruling by the Constitutional Court said that Spanish should
also be considered a working language, but it did not define how many
hours of classroom use this entails. It was former minister Wert who
first suggested a 25% figure as the “bare minimum.” The Catalan regional
High Court has supported this figure in at least five cases, and civic
associations such as Societat Civil Catalana (SCC) have made it a
recurring demand.</p>
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<p>The Catalan Socialists, while siding with the unionist camp on most
issues, defend the current linguistic model in Catalonia. “It is a
positive element that produces social cohesion,” said Congresswoman
Meritxell Batet.</p>
<p>Catalonia’s education community also says it will defend the existing model.</p>
<p>“We ask that education not be used as a weapon in the political
battle,” said Ramon Font, spokesman for USTEC, the largest primary
school teachers’ union.</p></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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