ARCHIVED - Vega Baja parents protest at use of Valenciano language in schools

Children in the whole of Alicante are being forced to use Valenciano in school

The issue of language in Spain is a complicated one, with regional languages competing with the dominance of Castilian Spanish in various different parts of the country, and the topic is currently a controversial one in the region of Valencia, particularly in the province of Alicante.

There is more than one official language in various of Spain’s 17 regions, with official recognition being given to the Basque language, Catalan, Gallego (in Galicia), Occitan (in tiny parts of Catalunya) and Valenciano. What this means in the case of Valencia is that all official regional government notices must be produced in two languages, many place names are signposted in two versions and, more controversially, the regional government has the right to enforce the use of the regional language in at least some of the classes in public schools.

This is despite the fact that in terms of population Castilian Spanish is far more widely used, and that while practically everyone is capable of speaking Spanish the same is not true of Valenciano. Certainly there are towns and villages where Valenciano has persisted, particularly in the north of the region and inland, but in the province of Alicante this is much less common. In fact, in the Vega Baja area in the south of the province Valenciano is the official Town Hall language in only one of the 27 municipalities (Guardamar del Segura), while Castilian Spanish is preferred in all the rest. (The second image shows a group from Callosa de Segura at the march in Alicante).

But in Valencia, the regional government is pursuing its aim of enforcing the use of Valenciano in school, and in consequence there has been a series of protests by those who see no advantage in their children learning a language which is, from an objective point of view, in inevitable decline. The latest of these took place over the weekend in the provincial capital of Alicante, where an estimated six thousand marched behind a banner rejecting the “plurilinguistic” policies of the regional government and Vicent Marzà, who currently heads the Department of Education.

Many of those taking part were children, some still in push-chairs, with the commonly voiced complaints including the fact that the pupils in schools will learn more if the language they use at home is spoken to them in school, and that parents need to be able to help their offspring with their homework. Perhaps more importantly, many asked questions about the government’s motives: why, they wonder, would it be useful for children to learn Valenciano?

The official line, of course, is that the language is representative of Valencia’s cultural heritage and identity, but for most of those who live in the Vega Baja this argument just doesn’t wash. Valenciano is not the language of international business, it is not the language of the internet, and it is not a language which will help children’s chance of finding employment – unless, of course, they wish to work in the public sector in Valencia, for example as a teacher in public education, where a working knowledge of Valenciano is stipulated as a requirement by the regional government.

The role of international language has effectively been taken on instead by English, hence the accepted need for schools to teach English to an acceptable level throughout Spain: what, then, the parents are asking, is the justification for Valenciano in schools, not as an academic speciality but as the vehicle through which other subjects such as maths and history can be taught?

The problem is that as society advances it becomes more cosmopolitan and international, and nowhere in Spain is this more the case than on the Costa Blanca. It seems probable that the government in Valencia will stick to its guns in protecting a language which is on its way out, but in Alicante is it equally certain that parents will continue to object to the policy. 

This is an issue which is unlikely to go away for the forseeable future…