News
French National Assembly rejects more protection for minoritised languages in education, media
Lawmakers votes down bill seeking introduction of linguistic immersion in schools, more relevance for languages other than French in public broadcaster
The rejected bill had been filed by Breton ecologist parliamentarian Paul Molac. Last year, negotiations seeking the ratification by France of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages had failed.
After the setback, Molac had introduced yesterday's bill in order to have linguistic immersion introduced in public schools, and to promote minoritised languages in the public sphere and the media.
Ample recognition of bilingual education was sought
On 28 October, right-wing senators refused even to discuss a bill proposed by Christiane Taubira, who advocated the ratification of the European Charter. After that, Molac worked to prepare the bill, which was examined on 16 December at the Assembly's Commission for Cultural Affairs and Education.
According to Molac, the proposal sought to have bilingual education widely recognized and to protect linguistic immersion in schools: "[It] consists in strengthening the use of regional languages [sic] within the two pillars of language policy: education and [language] visibility in the public and audiovisual spheres."
The aim, according to Molac, was "to offer the possibility to widely use regional languages during school hours, and also to help finance bilingual education in regional administrations responsible for general education."
More hours for minoritised languages at the media
Molac specifically insisted on the protection and promotion of minoritised languages in public broadcasters. The Breton lawmaker also pressed for the promotion of the social use of languages other than French. Molac's bill also wanted the Broadcasting Council to be given the role to monitor the allocation of a prominent space for minority languages and cultures in all media.
(This news was first published by Occitan news site Jornalet, with which Nationalia has a partnership agreement.)