Want to study in Basque at the UPV/EHU and have to do it in Spanish
- In the fourth course of Philosophy, at the UPV/EHU, students have to choose a subject in Spanish, as there are not enough subjects in Basque. Spanish students do not have this problem, and it is curious, because there are more students in Basque than in Spanish. Similar cases have also been reported in other races. “They do not allow us to develop knowledge in our language.”
All subjects are optional in the fourth year of the Philosophy course, but there is not enough elective in Basque to complete all credits. It is significant that more than half of the students who have enrolled in one of these subjects in Spanish have to attend a course in Spanish.
The student of Philosophy Aimar Jusue has asked for explanations, and the professor has answered that there are not enough students to create a new subject in Euskera, but Jusue has revealed the trap behind: if they only offered subjects in Euskera, there would be enough students, but they offer subjects in Spanish, because they know that the students in Euskera will also sign up for subjects in Spanish. The opposite is not true, not enough subjects are offered in Spanish and the Spanish students have to complete the course with subjects in Basque, that is, they do not force the Spanish students to choose a candidate in Basque.
In a subject taught in two languages, it is obligated to register in Spanish for students enrolled in Euskera in order to obtain the class in Spanish.
Not an isolated case
Also in Teaching, Law, Medicine, Social Education… says Jusue that at some point Euskaldunes students have to study in Spanish. It highlights a practice he has known: to force the students who register in Spanish in a subject taught in Euskera and in Spanish, so that there are enough students to be able to take the class in Spanish. “Shouldn’t the goal in Basque be to talk about the largest number of subjects and students, rather than to decrease the class in Basque in favor of Spanish?” says Aimar Jusue.
“It is essential to continue strengthening and nurturing the contents and areas produced from and from Euskera, if we want to continue to disseminate culture and knowledge in our language,” he stressed, “but with this type of attitudes and decisions they do the opposite: we are destroying our language, limiting the possibility of creating more content in Euskera. They try to imagine that the problem of Euskera is only the one we want to learn in Euskera, but behind all these cases of the UPV/EHU there is an epistemic injustice that does not allow us to develop knowledge in our language”.
"They try to imagine that the problem of Euskera is nothing more than what we want to learn in Euskera, but they do not allow us to develop knowledge in our language"
Jusue (Ibaetako Euskaltzaleen Plaza Euskarari) is a member of the Euskera group IEPE and has encouraged students to participate in one of the Euskera groups that exist in the field of education. Last year a protocol was created at the IEPE so that students can have a grasp on campus in which linguistic rights are violated and the problem socialized and put it on the table. “At the UPV/EHU in general we have a big problem with this issue and we need more activation among students around the Basque country.”
Euskalgintzaren Kontseiluak eta Bizkaiko Foru Aldundiko langileak elkarretaratzea egin dute langileen egonkortzearen eta euskalduntzearen alde.
