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87% of new pupils to be schooled in Catalan in the Balearic Islands

School admission process has given parents a linguistic choice between Catalan and Spanish for the first time · The Balearic government, led by the Spanish conservative PP, says this puts an end to the “imposition” of Catalan · Local organizations argue that Catalan is still in a heavily disadvantaged position in Balearic society · Only 63% of residents can speak Catalan

After parents have been given the option to choose the language of schooling of their children for the first time in the Balearic Islands, 87% of new pupils there will receive their tuition through the medium of Catalan, while for the other 13% it will be Spanish. These data were made known yesterday by the Balearic ministry of Education. According to the ministry, 16,331 pupils have participated in this process: those 3-year-olds joining for the first time the education system and also those up to 8 years old that were changing schools.

The Catalan option has been the preferred one in all four Balearic Islands: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. Majorca, the most populated one, is the island where a larger share of parents have chosen Catalan.

Significant differences have also arisen when public or private subsidized centres are considered. In public centres, 92% of pupils will be schooled in Catalan and 8% in Spanish, while in subsidized ones, figures are 79% and 21% respectively.

Both Catalan and Spanish will continue to be compulsory subjects for all pupils, regardless the language their parents chose.

A change in the model

Before this year, all children in primary school where supposed to be schooled in Catalan in the Balearic Islands in public and subsidized centres. Even if data available showed that this was not fully implemented, the Spanish conservative Popular Party, who is leading the Balearic government, said that the model "imposed" Catalan and that parents should be given a choice.

But cultural and educational local associations disagree with the new system. On the one hand, they argue that it splits pupils on linguistic grounds, something that they see as bad for social cohesion. On the other, they recall that Catalan is still in a position of heavy disadvantage after decades of marginalization of the language by the Spanish state. Linguistic census show that only 63% of Balearic inhabitants can speak Catalan, while almost 100% can speak Spanish. That being the case, the organizations argue that Catalan should continue to be the mainstream language in all public and subsidized schools.