Language policy change in schools ‘illegal,’ say heads

The controversy over the language policy in Catalan schools continues. A member of the central board of Catalan public school heads on Friday called the change considered by the Spanish government “illegal.” In an interview with the RAC1 radio station, Artur Ramírez said that the Catalan education law does not allow changes in the current system, which establishes Catalan as the working language in all schools. According to Ramírez, Madrid’s plans to offer parents the option of Spanish as the main language in schools “breaks an existing consensus within the educational community” and is “irresponsible.”

“What do they want? To divide children between Spanish and Catalan?” asked Ramírez. “Dividing children for language reasons isn’t an educational measure, it is promoting differences, it is sectarian and does not help integration or cohesion,” he added. Ramírez, who pointed out that official exams show that students finish their studies with the same level of Catalan as Spanish, also warned that the measure could lead to conflicts and “a priori” is not logistically possible.

On Thursday, the Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, met the leaders of Societat Civil Catalana, a Catalan unionist organization. According to the group, Rajoy “confirmed” to them that Spanish as a main language would be an option for families in the upcoming pre-enrolment for the next school year. Spain’s secretary of state for education, Marcial Marín, also said on Thursday that the final decision will be taken in the coming weeks.