A few days ago we learned that the public school in Castejón has asked the Department of Education to abandon the English Learning Program (PAI). This news is closely related to the concern of most teachers and families who know the program well. And this is based on the fact that the programme was implemented, in any case, eight years ago, without a framework for research and educational planning, when the most serious cuts in education in the Foral Community occurred, both in subsidies and in the reception of staff. There was no material or budgetary allocation for the recruitment of English expert teachers. And these are the keys for the language teaching programme to achieve the desired success, that is, to increase communication capacity in the language you learn.

The Department of Education conducted the following study: “Assessment and follow-up of language proficiency in English for students enrolled in British or PAI schools”. Well, after 9 years of language learning between 8 and 14 sessions of the week, more than half of the students achieved levels Pr-A1 and A1 (1st of the Language School) in oral and written expressions. Only 15-21% reached the 2nd year of the Language School and improved written understanding a bit, as always. That is, after all the years of schooling with English, most students reach the oral and written expression capacity that an adult obtains in one year, with four hours per week. Disturbing.

But it is not only that competition in English does not develop as expected, after so many years of learning, but that unfortunately the areas taught in English substantially lose the depth of content and pedagogical possibilities; behavioural problems are exacerbated and attention to diversity is blurred, as students learn more than a third of the day and have to acquire new learning in a language they do not know. Not to mention all this, the loss of self-esteem and self-opinion generated in the years of the school year by a program poorly planned pedagogically and curricularly.

Students don't immerse themselves in language, they drown in it. Indeed, it is noteworthy that since the implementation of the PAI, the business of academies, courses and aids in English in Navarra has greatly increased when the supposed program aimed at the disappearance of the need for these external aids to guarantee the right of all students to learn English.

In order to take this step, the center has had the express approval of the faculty and school board, composed of the representation of faculty, families and administration. On the other hand, they have developed a plan to abandon the program, arguing the reasons for its departure, proposing new linguistic objectives of the center, anticipating the future staff and organizing the expiration of the program by courses. Therefore, the center has analyzed very well the context in which it is working and the advantages and disadvantages of this methodology for its students, and has made a decision after a reflection and consensus, based on the evaluation of its educational reality for many years.

That is why it is shameful to say, as UPN says, that the Cloister and the School Council return to the organization eight years ago because they are Basque. And besides shame, it distorts and simplifies the problem, and it's a round lie, because it tries to deceive people. And as for UPN, we know that they opened the PAI program anyway, without thinking about teachers, economic resources or curricular aids, with the objective of facing model D, as recognized by Yolanda Barcina. You can't force reality, you can't believe any of these arguments, because teachers know that the damage to most students is before the flight to a political party, although then and now the PSN helps us. Our students don't have to suffer the disorganization of partisan politics, and the teachers aren't going to stay silent as they try a whole generation of students to justify the bad occurrences of anyone.

We congratulate the teachers for the professionalism they have shown, for the courage to act against and in coherence in the context of many schools, and for not believing in the lie that guides society. Learn languages, but prioritize the needs of students.

Arantxa Ruiz Vidorreta.

Raúl López Ekai.