- The Rectorate of Bordeaux has just rejected the implementation of a project of experimentation entirely in Basque at the public school in the capital, on the grounds that compulsory education is done in French. More and more voices are denouncing this attitude and the citizen has his way through the petition.
News in the rectorado of Bordeaux: Compulsory education according to the French Constitution must be carried out in French and education in Basque has no place. In recent weeks it has been recalled again, as a demonstration of the refusal to start a project of experimentation entirely in Euskera in the public school of the capital. The old among the new Euskaldunes: If necessary, we will be able to mobilise.
Every day, more voices publicly denounce the attitude of the Rectorate of Bordeaux. The situation as a citizen can also be regretted by taking part in the collection of signatures that have been placed on the network. For three days there have been 2,500 pre-registrations of this new publication of the Collective Agreement.
Euskalgintza complains and worries
The Basque Confederation says that “denying the opening of public school immersion classes is a violation of the right of students to access quality education in Basque and Basque”, adding that the French Government continues “fighting” for linguistic diversity.
The Basque Confederation has implied that if no solution is found, it will be required from the streets: “It calls to be alert to the society that in the past has been able to mobilize massively in favor of the teaching and use of the Basque Country.”
Decision denounced by the EEP
On July 15, it was the Public Institution of the Basque Country that made known the position of the Rectorado de Bordeaux. This structure, created in 2004, is based on the participation of the French State, the New Aquitaine region, the Pyrenees Atlantiques Department and the Commonwealth of Iparralde. The representative of New Aquitaine, Mathieu Berge, then added that the situation has been denounced harshly and that the "political, institutional and social consensus" has been called into question.
Motion by the College, adopted unanimously
On 17 July last, the Commonwealth of Iparralde unanimously voted on a motion saying that the attitude of the Rectorado de Bordeaux is “incomprehensible and unacceptable”. For their part, the electorate unanimously demanded that the experiments carried out exclusively in Basque be "developed and strengthened".
The rectorado of Bordeaux sent Alain Iriart, mayor of the capital, a letter written from the Jacobinism of Always: Recalling that the French Constitution of 1958 requires compulsory education in the “Republican language” – to be understood in French. In this sense, it has rejected experimentation with a model of immersion entirely in Basque, so the same position could appear on the demands of other peoples. In addition, a number of actors in the world of Basque culture are of the opinion that there is a risk that this argument will also be addressed to ikastolas.