Jonjo Agirre
15-04-2022, ARGIA.
Abstract:
Recently the parliament of the Western Basque Country, with the support of the Basque Parliamentary nationalist parties, has approved a new education law. The author of the article focuses on the linguistic aspect of the new law, which is quite confusing and is not decidedly committed to a system of Basque language immersion.
Indeed, the new law does not at all refer to Basque language immersion, something that the author attributes to the pressure of the Spanish unionist political parties (PSOE and PODEMOS). Jonjo Agirre also denounces that the law leaves the linguistic model to be applied in the hands of each educational centre, by which the Basque administration avoids all responsibility in the event of linguistic failure of the students (in terms of proficiency in the Basque language).
The new law does not mention our Country (Euskal Herria, the Basque Country) either. The division that we Basques suffer, divided into five different administrations, is maintained, so our students get used to studying only the fragment of the country in which they live rather than the entire country. All this is with the approval of the Basque nationalist parties, which have shown a low profile in the negotiations of this law and have chosen to agree on its lowest interpetation of content.
