30 groups urge government to create 80,000 new Catalan course places

Thirty organizations have come together to demand that the government create 80,000 new places on Catalan courses.

The groups want to increase the 120,000 places currently offered each year to 200,000, ensuring over two million people wishing to learn the language can do so over the next decade.

On Friday, coinciding with International Mother Language Day, they launched a campaign proposing measures to provide universal access to Catalan and reverse the decline in the language’s social usage.

The actions are organized around three main areas: schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces, and are being driven by organizations from various sectors, including employers' associations, neighborhood and community groups, and members of the educational and language rights movements.

The campaign 'Català per a tothom. A cada barri, a cada escola, a cada feina' – 'Catalan for Everyone. In Every Neighborhood, Every School, Every Workplace' – was launched two days after the government published the results of a major survey on language usage, revealing that Catalan is now the main language of less than a third of the population, for the first time in at least 20 years.

The organizations admit that the results highlight a "worrying reality," and that the number of people accessing Catalan classes is falling behind the population growth.

They argue that more than two million people want to learn or improve their Catalan, but currently the government only offers 120,000 places per year.

The Campaign organizers stated that it would take "more than 20 years" to meet demand at this rate, and called on the government to increase the number of Catalan course places for adults.

On Thursday, the Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, announced an emergency plan to increase the number of places by 30,000, but the organizations are requesting for that figure to be pushed to 80,000.

Specifically, the campaign proposes increasing the places available at the Consortium for Linguistic Normalization (CPNL) classes by 30,000; adding another 30,000 places through a program in workplaces, allowing workers, employers, and self-employed individuals to learn Catalan at work; and providing an additional 20,000 places in schools for parents – more than 400,000 – born outside of Catalonia who have their children enrolled in Catalan schools.

Grassroots activities

The campaign's organizers say that formal courses alone will not reach all neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces, so they are committed to promoting grassroots activities.

Among the proposed measures are the creation of hundreds of groups for learning Catalan among neighbors, families, and coworkers.

The organizations have emphasized that the challenge is a "collective mission" that requires a "national alliance."

"We are here to announce a strong movement where the whole country must be present, with Catalan as its backbone," said Maria Maians, one of the campaign spokespeople, during the presentation event.