The organization Escuela de Todos has denounced that only 33 of the 101 charter schools in the Balearic Islands included the option of choosing the first language of instruction in the registration forms for 4th grade of kindergarten, as ordered by the Conselleria de Educación y Universidades. According to the organization, which brings together associations such as PLIS. Education, please and Societat Civil Balear, these data cast doubt on the Government’s version, which assured that the linguistic choice had been guaranteed without problems.
The data was obtained through a request for transparency submitted by Escuela de Todos, to which the Conselleria provided the forms used by the schools in the enrollment process.
Only one third of the schools have followed instructions
The report reveals that 40 schools did not include the required boxes and another 28 did not even deliver the forms to the Conselleria, in breach of the regulations. Among the latter are Arcàngel Sant Rafel, Es Liceu, Sant Vicenç de Paül de Palma or Pureza de María de Inca, among others.
Escuela de Todos considers that this situation has limited the right of parents to choose the language of instruction for their children, a right enshrined in the Linguistic Normalization Law and the Minimum Decree. The organization argues that schools have employed “multiple traps” to avoid the application of the regulation, from forms without a clear choice option to additional sheets that were not part of the official enrollment document.
In some cases, the centers reportedly informed parents that the language chosen had to coincide with the school’s vehicular language, while in others it was argued that there was no obligation to ask about the choice of language.
The Government defends the application of the system
The Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, and the president of the Government, Marga Prohens, assured at the time that only “small occasional errors” had been detected, which had not affected the right of families to choose the language of instruction. However, Escuela de Todos considers that the data dismantle this version and reveal that the application of the free choice of language has been deficient and unequal in the Balearic Islands.
The entity has submitted the documentation to the Council for Transparency and Good Governance, arguing that the irregularities observed could constitute fraud in the enrollment process.
Pilot plan in Ibiza
The free choice of language is one of the star measures of the Government of Marga Prohens, promoted in response to pressure from VOX and other sectors critical of language immersion in Catalan. The Pilot Plan of Free Choice of Language, implemented in some schools in Ibiza, has been highlighted as a first step in the flexibility of the Balearic educational model.
In Ibiza, the Can Bonet school has been one of the pioneering centers in the implementation of the plan. Its director, Josep Lluís Mollà, has stated that students have improved their academic performance thanks to the possibility of studying in the language they are most familiar with. However, the initiative has generated strong opposition from nationalist and linguistic sectors, such as the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), which has described the program as a “linguistic segregation plan”.
With these new complaints, the controversy over the use of Spanish in the classroom is reactivated, while the Government must answer whether it will take measures to ensure effective compliance with the regulations in the next enrollment campaign.
