SPAIN AGAINST THE CATALONIA NATION -- Catalan News Agency - Catalan Government forced to pay for private education in Spanish

Catalan News Agency - Catalan Government forced to pay for private education in Spanish

Catalan Government forced to pay for private education in Spanish

CNA

Madrid (ACN).- The Spanish Ministry of
Education has released the decree proposal stating that the Catalan
Government has the obligation to provide alternatives to families who
request their children to be taught in Spanish in public schools, where
Catalan is the first language of instruction and Spanish is mostly
taught as a subject. Furthermore, if requested by the pupils’ families,
Catalonia and all other Autonomous Communities with two official
languages will have “to fully assume” the costs of these children’s
education in privately-owned schools using Spanish as the language of
instruction. The money will be deducted from the Autonomous Communities’
funding scheme if they do not cooperate. However, the decree does not
work the other way round in regions such as Valencia, where families are
having problems to school their children in Catalan (co-official
there). The Spanish Government’s project foresees that families will
first have to pay the school fees themselves and they will receive an
answer to their request from the Spanish Ministry of Education within 6
months. The Education Ministry will notify such expenses on a monthly
basis to the Finance Ministry, which runs the Autonomous Community
government’s funding scheme. Afterwards, the Finance Ministry will
deduct the money from the funds to be transferred. Therefore, the system
would indirectly make the Catalan Government pay for privately-owned
schools if it does not offer public education in Spanish. The measure
goes against Catalonia’s self-government and its own school model,
praised by international organisations since it guarantees true
bilingualism and fosters equal opportunities and social cohesion. School
stakeholders have insistingly protested against the Spanish
Government's Education Reform and the 'Hispanisation' of the Catalan
Education System.

The draft states that the education authorities of
the Autonomous Communities where two official languages co-exist ​​have
two alternatives to “guarantee” the pupils’ “right” to receive
instruction in Spanish. The Constitutional Court stated on two occasions
that such a “right” does not exist; the only “right and duty” is “to
know” Spanish, which is entirely guaranteed by the Catalan school
system, as proven by the results of the last 30 years.

The Spanish Executive’s decree states that Autonomous
Communities can, on the one hand, “implement systems” in which the
Spanish language is taught in “each of the levels and compulsory
subjects”.  In this case, the school system will “determine the
reasonable proportion of the Spanish language and another official
language”.  They can also opt for a dual system, meaning “establishing
systems in which non-linguistic subjects are taught exclusively in the
co-official language”, for instance Catalan, but “always with an
alternative offer of instruction available, supported by public funds
and using the Spanish language as the language of instruction in a
reasonable proportion”.

In addition, the text explicitly says that it does
not consider appropriate the “measures involving individual attention in
Spanish or a separation in different groups because it is a common
language”. The draft has therefore reasserted recent Judicial rulings
which stated that if the family of one pupil requested the class to be
given in Spanish, the families of all the other children could not
oppose such a decision and would also have to be taught in the language.
The text also warned that it did not consider “reasonable” teaching
offers in Spanish that required pupil to be schooled outside of their
home town.

If no alternatives are provided, the Catalan Executive will have to “fully assume” expenses in private schools

At this point, the text pressures the Catalan
Government into choosing one of the two options aforementioned and
points out that “if the annual curriculum of the administration does not
guarantee a reasonably sustained teaching offer with the aim of Spanish
being used as language of instruction in public schools, the Ministry
of Education, upon verification of the situation, will fully assume, on
behalf of the corresponding education authorities, the tuition costs of
these pupils in privately-owned schools where such an offer is
available”,  expenses that “will be charged to the educational
administration”, which means the Catalan Education Ministry. The decree
project provides for the payments to be made “directly” in compensation
for the effective schooling costs of private schools where Spanish is
used as the main teaching language.

According to the draft, the process must be initiated
by a request from the pupils’ parents or guardians, or the pupils
themselves if they are over 18. A special form will be available on the
website of the Spanish Ministry of Education, citizen offices, as well
as government delegations and sub-delegations of all the Spanish
Autonomous Communities which have their own official language. The
families must attach a copy of their file “which will include the
request for the use of Spanish as the language of instruction” and the
document certifying the registration of the pupil in the public school
to investigate on whether it offers sufficient education in Spanish.

The Catalan Government should provide “justification” on its educational offer


After filing the request, the Spanish Government’s High Inspectors of
Education will ask the autonomous administration to provide “information
on the educational offer in Spanish in the concerned area”, which must
include the number of students who receive education in Spanish and
“justification” on the balance between the co-official language and
Spanish. The Catalan Ministry of Education will have a maximum of
fifteen days to provide the documents it deems appropriate and then the
instructor will submit the proposed course of action.

Final decision to be reached within 6 months

Once past this stage, the Spanish General Directorate
for Cooperation and Evaluation will evaluate the “right to obtain
compensation for schooling costs”. The deadline for issuing the decision
is set at six months, and if this period expires without resolution, it
will be considered rejected. If the request is accepted, the Spanish
Ministry of Education will pay for the pupils’ “registration and
enrolment” as well as all expenses “derived from complementary services
such as transportation, school canteens and boarding-schools”.

Payment, however, will not be given without the official documentation
sent by the privately-owned school. The right to compensation shall take
effect from the beginning to the end of compulsory education. In the
whole of the Autonomous Community, the Minister of Education will have
the right to cut off financial aid when it is deemed that pupils receive
adequate education in Spanish, in the case of detected fraud or when
the case no longer meet the requirements.
The Ministry of Education will notify the amounts paid each month

According to the draft, the Ministry of Education
will notify the Spanish Ministry of Finance the expenses covered for
private schooling each month, and the “the State will decrease or
increase the amount of financial resources of the Autonomous
Communities”.

More on

Catalan Education System, Catalan Government, Catalan Language, Catalan School, Constitutional Court, Democracy, Education, European Commission, European Union, Irene Rigau, José Ignacio Wert, Language Immersion, Language Rights, Linguistic Immersion, School, Self-Determination, Spanish Constitution, Spanish Constitutional Court, Spanish Government, Spanish Language, Spanish Nationalism, UNESCO

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A
protest in downtown Barcelona defending the Catalan school model, based
on the linguistic immersion principle, a few months ago (by ACN)

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Related links

http://www.catalannewsagency.com/society-science/item/the-spanish-education-minister-our-interest-is-to-spanishise-catalan-students http://www.catalannewsagency.com/catalan-language-school/item/spain-s-supreme-court-insists-on-making-spanish-a-language-of-instruction-in-catalonia