Pro-independence forces pledge not to negotiate with the Socialist contender Salvador Illa, who was the target of most of the attacks during the televised war of words
English By Graham Keeley Share on Facebook Print this page MADRID - In the land that gave the world the first modern novel,
Don Quixote, the language of its creator, Miguel de Cervantes, is under threat. This is the contention of bilingual campaigners and conservative politicians who believe a new education law will erode a constitutional guarantee to teach Spanish, also known as Castilian, in schools.
Spain is a linguistically diverse country where the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages have equal status that is protected by law.
Spain s left-wing coalition government has introduced a reform, which says Castilian Spanish does not have to be the principal language in classrooms throughout the country.
Madrid: Spain s upper house of parliament approved on Wednesday a controversial education reform bill, which removes a stipulation that Spanish must be the main language in classrooms across the nation.
The measure was included in the bill at the request of Catalan separatist party ERC, whose support is needed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez s minority government to pass legislation at national level.
The ERC helped approve Sanchez s 2021 budget on Tuesday in the Senate, prompting accusations from the main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) that Sanchez was now paying the price with the education law reform. The price is throwing Spanish out the window of classroom in Catalonia forever, the party s spokesman in the senate, Javier Maroto, said ahead of the vote.