- Schools with an immersion model in Basque and a bilingual model have gone from being a minority in the Northern Basque Country to a majority in twenty years, according to the study of the Basque Public Institution.
Seaska, public schools and Catholic schools, the three networks have taken into account the work carried out by the EEP together with the Ministry of Education of the French Government. The study period was 2004-2024.
The data is clear. With regard to primary education, the proportion of schools offering bilingual education and inter-communal schools has increased from 34 per cent to 66 per cent over the twenty years, compared with 50 per cent to 67 per cent for Catholic schools. Meanwhile, Seaska, which follows the Basque immersion model, has opened thirteen new schools in these two decades (currently, it has 33 schools in all).
In short, considering the three networks, schools that offer an immersion model and a bilingual model have gone from 42% in Primary Education to 71%. In other words, monolingual French schools have increased from 58 per cent in 2004 to 29 per cent today (a total of 65 schools).
Also in schools and lycées, the Basque language
At the secondary level, 32 of the 41 colleges currently offer bilingual instruction (15 out of 18 in the public, 12 out of 18 in the Catholic, and 5 in Seaska). As for the lyceums, the bilingual model is present in 12 of the 15 centers (in the public in 6 of 7, in the Catholic in 5 of 7, and in the only one of Seaska). Those who teach only French are a minority.
Looking at the numbers and proportions of students, the majority are those who still study in the French monolingual model.
On the other hand, in terms of the number and proportions of students, the majority are those who still study in the French monolingual model. In Primary Education, the number of students in the bilingual model is currently 43.6% and the French monolingual model is 56.4%. However, in the twenty years, the number of students in the immersion and/or bilingual model has increased considerably: It has grown from 5,930 to 10,821, an increase of 82.5%.
When we go to secondary school, the number of students who follow bilingual education in the school was 10.2% in 2004 and has increased to 25.2% in 2024. In the Lyceum, only 6.6% were bilingual learners two decades ago, and today they account for 14.8%.
Finally, the radiography of the mother schools. In 20 years, 32 public schools and 11 Catholic schools have opened up a model of immersion in the mother’s school.
The full study is suspended by the Gazette.