We have to go back a few years. In Zestoa, a town with a Basque usage of 78.3% (street measurement 2021), the Basque Forum has been launched at the initiative of the City Council, some associations and citizens. They share the concern that the use of Basque is declining and has been mainly focused on children, who in the park and on the street, unlike years ago, also speak Spanish. The Forum notes that young children are more likely to support the Basque language in organized activities. They have begun to supervise these extra-curricular activities and have realized that not all children participate, that is, families with few economic resources cannot offer their children such leisure time.

The Basque Forum asks the City Council: leisure is one of the most important areas to promote the use of the Basque language and citizens cannot be excluded from this area due to the economic gap.

Once the proposal has been received, the Departments of Basque, Sports, Youth and Welfare have begun to collaborate, resulting in a change of regulation and the creation of a new line of subsidies. The goals are two. On the one hand, the aim is to protect families who do not have the means to pay for their free time due to lack of financial resources. They claim that young children need free time and place it as a right. Councillor Nerea Goikoetxea chairs the Committee on Youth, Social Relations and Equality: “We believe that leisure is a tool to naturalize citizens or to participate in the community, to cultivate social skills, to gain confidence, to have fun, and to do it in Basque. All the kids are in the same place.” On the other hand, it seeks to strengthen the use of language. Goikoetxea recalls that there can be many resources to promote the Basque language, but it is necessary to use the resources offered by the community: “There are activities for children specifically created to improve the Basque language and they have their own mission. We need to connect the language with the community. It is necessary to make an effort to incorporate the Basque language in those areas that are natural for children.” However, for the children who will benefit from the grants, the first language can be Basque, Spanish or some other language.

What characterizes it

The difference from the existing subsidy lines is that the current regulation is open. Goikoetxea explains the difference with an example: a child can say at home that he wants to sign up for the theater. The parents will answer that they do not have the money for it and the child will be left without the theater, or they will go to the town hall to ask if there is a subsidy. Goikoetxea believes that in a specific situation like this, it is very difficult for parents to knock on the door of the town hall, and almost always the child will lose. Now the route is different: families know that they can choose from a number of free activities. They have given great importance to the way in which information is conveyed. The City Council has approached the school and parents as much as possible to inform them of the change of regulations. There are three schools in Zestoa, belonging to the neighborhoods of Arroaba and Aizarna and the town centre. All three have reported on the subsidy line in the teachers’ cloisters and the teachers have taken advantage of the parent meetings to inform. The leaflets have been distributed and the Parent Association has disseminated the information in the Whatsapp groups. The Upper House is clear: “Make nice rules, but if we don’t get to the people later, it’s useless.”

Since the launch of the new subsidy line in June 2024, all children in Zestoa have the opportunity to participate in other extracurricular activities in addition to the school sport and Recreational Sports projects (each child has to pay 30 euros, but the new subsidy line also supports them). The local associations that have reached an agreement with the City Council are: Association of Abantzu Pilota, School of Verse, School of Interpretation, Dance Group of Hope and School of Football.

So far, families have made 30 applications for grants. Two of them have been rejected because they do not meet the conditions for applying for aid. Sixteen boys and girls are enrolled in football, seven are in the theater, four are dancing and one is enrolled in a ball. At the City Hall they are satisfied with the result. However, the test is considered a pilot for the 2024-2025 academic year, which will be reviewed at the end. They are sure that there will be something improved and Goikoetxea tells an example to confirm this. A girl who does not get along well with Basque enrolled in one of these activities at the beginning of the school year. They know he started it and left it right away. What they don't know is why he left her: “If you didn’t like the activity, well, but it was because you have problems with the language, we have to think about how to get along, or accompanied by a parent or a friend... We need to look at the language barrier.”

The use of Basque in the locality is high and in the leisure activities conducted it is also common to speak Basque, both monitors and children. They have detected, for example, that children who tend to do it in non-formal areas in Spanish or another language tend to do it in Basque during leisure activities.

Among the challenges ahead is the School of Music. In this first course they have not addressed the subject because the classes are expensive, but the city council is aware that it is the passion of many children to play some instrument.