For those who have not heard of the issue, it would be convenient to start with a location. At the children's school in Ansoáin you can't study in Basque. Where does this situation come from and when did you start organizing your parents?

Itziar Ruiz: I was the first child school promotion, and I am 40 years old…

Nestor Esteban: The current model has been in place for several years. There are four classrooms with two educators in each classroom. In the classroom of the youngest, two educators are Castilian or Spanish, and in the other one is bilingual and the other is Castilian or Spanish.

I.R: An attempt is made for a couple to be Euskaldun if there is a couple, and if there is no partner, it gets in Spanish, depending on the course enrollment.

N.E. : The official model, which is put on the web, is that in each class there are two educators, and one of them is Basque, except in the group of small ones (both in Spanish). But the operation is in Spanish, as the City Hall says.

I.R: It's not a model of immersion. The Basque country has a presence, but everyday life and the model itself are not the Basques.

N.E. : Just over two years ago, we started moving on to this issue in December 2017. At first two families, Marta and ours. We introduced an instance to the City Hall asking why there was no model of immersion in Basque in the town; Marta had another problem: if we had to go to Pamplona for the children to learn in Basque, to see why we had to pay an additional fee. The City of Pamplona, as a foreigner, charges you 83€ more a month. Martha took care of that amount while sending one child, but when she had the second child she found it exaggerated to continue in the same situation. The two families met us and we started working.

How has the journey been?

N.E. : Regarding the first question, the City Hall answered that there was no model of immersion in Euskera, but that they were working. As for the second, we were at the threshold of the pre-registration period, and we decided to resolve the additional quota as soon as possible, prioritise it. We had several meetings with the City Hall, we went to the Ararteko and we were right, and an agreement was reached between the municipalities of Ansoáin and Pamplona: The Ansoáin City Hall took over the additional fee. The truth is that the agreement was signed after enrolment, and that some parents could not take it into account when deciding where their children would be enrolled.

 

 

 

 

This course was re-signed before the pre-registration period. But the City Council did not inform the parents about this decision.

After two years of working on this topic, we realized that the City Hall had not taken any steps on the road to an Euskaldun children’s school and decided to start publishing this issue, so we have gathered more families. On February 26 we held a press conference with some examples of the lack of movement by the City Hall:

- EH Bildu brought the matter to a plenary 2019 (we knew nothing), but they also removed the point, because the mayor said there were no conditions or guarantees for it to be carried out. We learned all this from the press.

- In May there were municipal elections and we did not find points on this issue in the party programs.

- In December the budgets for the year 2020 were agreed, and there was no money to boost the Euskaldunization of the children's school.

- According to the regulations of the Children's School, 6 of the 9 workers of the organic staff must be Euskaldunes and is not complied with. The opposite is true, only three are Basque.

- Finally, no call for work has been made. We were told at the time that if the Government of Navarra did not give us a call for work for children's schools, they would also do so, because being a small town there are no resources to start something like that, while the government did that call last year, but the city council did not.

Seeing all of this, we began to publish our claim, especially in the last few months.

Ansoin Mayor Ander Oroz made a number of statements to the media on this subject. Can we analyze the mayor's arguments?

N.E. : The so-called “Law of Pesupustaria Stability” does not allow them to hire more teachers. We do not know to what extent this is so, we are not experts in legal matters. What we do know is that they could take advantage of the call for employment of the Government of Navarra and they did not. On the other hand, I always have an example: when we talked about the additional fee, the city council told us that they could not make an agreement with the city council of Pamplona, which was impossible. We started studying it, and in the end, it was possible to do it.

I.R: It is also mentioned that UGT has appealed against the entire organic staff of the City Council, as far as Euskera is concerned. On the subject of the School of Children, by law 6 out of 9 educators should be Euskaldunes, and that is not the case.

N.E. : Two years ago, we were clearly told that they had “many difficulties.” The truth is that two years ago we asked why there was no model of immersion in Euskera, and in November we entered the instance asking what measures the city council would take and what deadlines. The diagnosis of problems is one thing, but we go further: if you see that there are some problems, what measures will you take and within what time? In the end, we met last week, but in the meantime we did not receive an answer (for almost four months). For our part, there were several protests: we entered with the children to play in the City Hall, lockdown, gatherings…

One of Oroz's statements struck me: “They pushed for a recycling of Ansoin’s faculty to foster Euskera’s knowledge, but it wasn’t successful.” What does this mean? What do you ask six Castilian speaking workers to study in Euskera to provide a public service and say no? Is that where UGT enters as a lobby to protect the privileges of monolingual workers?

I.R: I remember the idea that the city council brought the issue of children's school to the municipal corporation and removed it in the same way. We do not know why they removed the point they had to present (that will be known by the city council), but it can be concluded that they could not guarantee the measure of euskaldunization…

You already said that a couple of years ago you came to the Ararteko in relation to the additional quotas. You have returned to him expressing your right to educate your children in the town and in Basque. What does Ararteko say?

I.R: We filed the complaint with the Observatory, and then the Ararteko received the opinion of the City Hall. After analyzing all this, he makes two recommendations to the City Hall: on the one hand, to guarantee the right of the parents of Ansoáin to educate our children in Euskera (based on the Law of the Basque Country); and on the other hand, that if they adhere to the resolution, the measures to be taken are specified. From there, the City Hall has two months to give an answer. Ararteko can advise and not send.

In this context, the demonstration of 29 February “The Right to the Basque Country” was held. How do they value the manifestation?

I.R: We are delighted. We received an invitation from the parents of the Children’s Schools of Pamplona, and we saw clearly that we are also under the motto “The right to the Basque Country”. For us it was important to be there, to know the experiences of other peoples (Mendigorria, Children’s Schools of Pamplona, students of the UPNA, Vocational Training…) and also to tell our own. It was a nice manifestation: multitudinous, colorful, with a lot of encouragement… In the village we did our little work for that day.

N.E. : On the other hand, I would like to point out that in the preparation of the mobilization, different resistances were observed that wanted to condition the demand of the Basque children's school in Ansoáin. We were clear that our claim was perfectly integrated into the demonstration, and no one is going to tell us when, where and how we should fight for our children to learn Basque.

Recently, ZuZeun Imanol Karrera and Saul Arangibel published the opinion article “All Together by the Basque Antsoain”. They said: “The City of Ansoáin (EH Bildu) with the Basque attacks that Navarra Suma and PSN have been carrying out for years and that continue to produce … to equate, as happened in the demonstration last Saturday, does not respond to reality”.

N.E. : Here we have no choice to enroll children in Basque, that is what happens. The one who got into the demonstration in the same bag were different examples that claim the right to study in Basque, as can be seen in the headlines of the newspapers of the coming days. It is an out-of-place debate.

What sets your case apart from others is that EH Bildu is in town hall. The situation is rather paradoxical.

 

 

 

 

I.R: We have not looked at who is in power, we have looked at the linguistic rights of our sons and daughters. We believe that what we are doing is a contribution to the people. Our will is to keep us as far away as possible from this confrontation. Our intention has not been to collide with the City Hall, on the contrary, we have sought common work in a genuine way. Even though it may seem like it's not right.

N.E. : It's true that at some point, when you step in and I don't know if sometimes you don't get an answer, patience runs out of you. In this situation lies, for example, the lockdown we carry out.

I.R: What’s more, everything should be easier if the one in power shares your own goals.

And maybe it's easier than in other cases, because the door has been opened for collaboration. Last week you met with the city hall and in the note you published in ZuZeu you commented that you were hopeful.

N.E. : In recent months we have carried out a dynamic that we believe is the result of that same meeting. At the beginning of February we headed for the Ararteko. We then held an informative meeting to inform those who were approaching in the town what we were doing and what the route was; the mayor also attended. We have also made a hearing and a concentration. To this must be added the expression “the right to Euskera”. On the eve of the demonstration, we received the invitation from the mayor. Mobilization has accelerated the process.

I.R: It can be said from the meeting itself that we are hopeful. We met three families, the mayor and two councillors. We have asked the City Hall for a plan, and first they have recognised that there is no plan, but they have presented us with a possible draft and with the intention of closing it as soon as possible. The pre-registration periods will begin shortly, so it is impossible that the next course can be implemented; our hope is at the beginning of the course 2021-22, we hope that by then the line in Euskera will be launched.

Where do you stand after this meeting? What is your work in the short term?

I.R: Our intention is to encourage Ansoin's parents to enroll children in Basque children's schools (the pre-registration period has been delayed by quarantine). We will have to go to the area, and we know that in Pamplona it will not be possible. We will turn to the public and, if not possible, the private ones. On the other hand, each family has its preferences, its situation, its conditions… It is normal for the child to be guaranteed to take advantage of a children’s school so that the parents can go to work.

N.E. : If the wager on the model in Euskera entails some additional expense, the City of Ansoáin has committed to study the casos.En Pamplona we entered for the first time in the Txantrea or in the Rotxapea, but now it will be impossible… who knows… maybe in the future those of Pamplona will have to come to Ansoain to register the children in Euskera!