The Balearic Islands will introduce the possibility for parents to choose the first language in which their children will study at school. PP and Vox have sealed an agreement in the community so that the next course will be launched in primary school, in the second cycle of preschool and the first cycle of primary school. The agreement, however, has so many nuances that there are serious doubts about the real consequences of the change in model which, in any case, has already provoked the first mobilizations of the educational community.
As a side note, the agreement reached by PP and Vox indicates, for example, that the choice of language will be applied “in the centers where possible”, which opens the door to the discretion of the educational administration. He also adds that it will be done respecting the autonomy of the centers and without implying the segregation of students, something that the Statute of Autonomy does not allow.
The implementation of this model is left in the hands of the centers and a pilot plan will also be launched so that those who wish can choose their first language also in secondary education. The agreement insists that there will be no segregation of students and establishes that the model will be established through organizational and pedagogical measures that are not detailed.
The vice president and Minister of Economy, Antoni Costa, has acknowledged that the Balearic Islands budgets for next year do not include a specific item to guarantee the choice of language, but he specifies that the money allocated to Education grows in the budget, so There will be enough resources to get it started.
Despite the ambiguity of what was agreed, all the alarms have gone off in the educational community, which considers this proposal a frontal attack on Catalan. Unions, teachers and associations such as the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) have begun to organize to stop this change in the educational model of the Balearic Islands and stood up to the president, Marga Prohens, when she called them to a meeting to explain how the new model would be applied. . The entities warn that this proposal will imply the segregation of students, goes against the Linguistic Normalization law and fails to comply with the decree of minimums in teaching, two norms that were approved with PP governments.
But the Government points out that the Balearic Education Law establishes the possibility for parents to choose the language of instruction for their children. This law was approved during the mandate of the socialist Francina Armengol.
The Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, has asked to appear in the Balearic Parliament to give more details of how the new model will be implemented, but the controversy does not seem to be going to stop because the education sector has warned that this Prohens proposal It could mean his political defeat at the polls. The Government hopes to temper spirits and convince the educational community that the change will be voluntary and will not imply segregation, exactly the opposite of what Vox asked for when it began to put pressure on the PP. This pressure has caused internal divisions in the far-right party and the resignation of one of its eight deputies in the Balearic Parliament, who has become a non-attached deputy.
