Catalans protest against mandate for more Spanish in schools

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BARCELONA – Thousands of Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona connected Saturday to protestation against a tribunal determination that mandates that 25% of each schoolhouse subjects beryllium taught successful Spanish, reducing the inactive predominant usage of the section Catalan connection successful classrooms.

Demonstrators accidental this would endanger their cherished acquisition system, which has helped bring Catalan backmost to communal usage aft it had been suppressed during the 20th-century dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

“It is not due of a ideology that a tribunal invalidates an acquisition strategy that is supported by nine and its parliament,” said Òscar Escuder, president of Platform for the Language, a grassroots radical that promotes the usage of Catalan who joined the march. “According to our polls, 82% of Catalans support” the existent system.

The renewed defence of the Catalan connection besides promises to galvanize the region's separatist question that has been struggling to support its unity. Several marchers carried pro-independence flags, and the movement's leaders were successful attendance.

But families who privation their children to person much learning successful Spanish accidental the existent strategy is violating their rights to survey successful the nation’s communal tongue.

The march comes little than a period since Spain’s Supreme Court upheld the 2020 determination by a little tribunal successful Catalonia that ruled successful favour connected a suit brought by the Spain’s erstwhile blimpish authorities against Catalonia’s Department of Education.

The Supreme Court tossed retired an entreaty by the Catalan authorities against the erstwhile ruling that the region's schools indispensable warrant astatine slightest 25% of world subjects beryllium taught successful Spanish. That would construe into astir doubling the hours Catalan pupil are taught successful Spanish from 1 taxable to two. Currently, astir schools lone usage Spanish successful Spanish connection class, leaving everything other to beryllium taught successful Catalan.

The summation whitethorn look slight, but for galore Catalans it is sacrilege.

“I americium present to support the acquisition strategy successful which I was schooled and my children were schooled,” said Mónica Muñoz, a 47-year-old translator and parent of three.

“(The tribunal mandate) is the decease of our language. Our connection is the instauration of our society, and it has been shown that the acquisition strategy works … Spanish is not successful danger.”

Now different organization showdown looms betwixt cardinal authorities and the Catalan determination government, which is tally by secessionists who are vowing not to abide by the request to summation Spanish successful schools.

The Assembly for a Bilingual School successful Catalonia, a grassroots radical representing Catalans who privation much Spanish successful classrooms, says that portion astir 100 families person taken their request for much Spanish to the courts, determination are “many more” who enactment them.

The usage of languages successful Catalonia’s schools has go a heated nationalist statement aft a household denounced that they had been insulted and felt threatened pursuing their petition for their child’s nationalist schoolhouse successful Canet de Mar conscionable northbound of Barcelona to summation the hours of Spanish arsenic mandated by the courts.

“We aren’t against Catalan. We emotion Catalan, and we admit the richness it gives america each arsenic individuals and arsenic a society," the household said successful an unfastened letter, written successful Spanish and Catalan. "But we are bilingual, and we besides emotion Spanish. Our extremity is thing much than for Spanish to signifier a portion of our child’s acquisition successful a mean mode conscionable arsenic it does successful Catalan society.”

Catalan is simply a Romance connection akin to Spanish. It is spoken successful the Catalonia portion of northeast Spain, successful the tiny federation of Andorra and to a reduced grade successful neighboring Spanish regions and successful confederate France.

The immense bulk of Catalonia’s 7.7 cardinal residents talk some Catalan and Spanish fluently. Conversations tin easy travel from 1 connection to the next, particularly since the connection person galore words that are precise similar.

The usage of Catalan successful schools was authoritative prohibited during Franco’s regularisation from the extremity of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War until his decease successful 1975. Since then, the promotion of the connection has been a prized accomplishment of Catalonia, which enjoys a wide grade of self-rule since Spain’s instrumentality to democracy.

The Catalan acquisition strategy is wide supported, adjacent by galore of the astir 50% of citizens who are against the independency push. For galore who came from different parts of Spain successful ample numbers past century, it meant their children could easy integrate.

In 2019, Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled against different suit brought by Spain’s blimpish Popular Party and said that Catalonia’s strategy of “linguistic immersion” successful Catalan was constitutional.

The Spanish Constitution states that Spanish is the connection of the federation and should beryllium learned and spoken by everyone. It besides states that Catalan and different number languages similar Basque are co-official languages and portion of Spain’s “cultural patrimony that should beryllium taxable to peculiar respect and protection.”

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Hernán Muñoz contributed to this report.

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