How is the Galician school model that Feijóo wants to export to Catalonia?

MadridAlberto Núñez Feijóo has tired himself out repeating the concept of "cordial bilingualism" when talking about how co-official languages fit into the State. One of his leitmotifs is to defend that he will guarantee the teaching of Spanish in schools so that there is a "balance" between languages in territories with linguistic plurality. In practice, this means reducing the presence of Catalan following what the PP leader already applied when he governed in Galicia. Let's review how the linguistic model works in the classrooms of the autonomous community currently presided over by the popular Alfonso Rueda, successor to the now-candidate for Moncloa on November 29th.

In 2010, coinciding with Feijóo's first term, the Xunta de Galicia promoted a reform that limited the presence of Galician in classrooms to 50%. Until that moment, instead of a maximum of Galician, what had been set was a minimum, also of 50%. In this way, educational centers could increase the presence of Galician above half of the teaching hours. Since Feijóo's arrival and the introduction for the first time of a cap, schools must ensure that there is the same percentage of weekly hours of Galician and Spanish. In the case of trilingual schools, which add English as a vehicular language, the percentage is reduced from 50% to 33%.

One of the complaints that entities and parties defending the Galician language have expressed since then is that the decree also introduces limitations regarding the subjects that can be taught in Galician. The regulations state that in the primary education stage, for example, mathematics must be in Spanish. In secondary school, this also applies with the addition of technology, physics, and chemistry. This is a division still in force this school year and the next, but it will change starting from the 2028-2029 school year.

This September, the PP and the socialists of Galicia signed an agreement that updates this plan and opens the door to teaching scientific subjects in Galician. However, if educational centers choose to teach mathematics in Galician, this will have to be accompanied by a change to Spanish in other subjects (in secondary school these are social sciences, geography, history, natural sciences, biology, and geology) to balance the distribution of hours. In no case is the 50% maximum modified, and if a change is opted for, it will have to be rebalanced to maintain the balance.

This is an agreement to which the BNG did not join because it considered it insufficient. Entities in defense of the Galician language, grouped in the platform Queremos Galego! have, in fact, promoted a Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) in the Galician Parliament that defends a linguistic immersion model like that of Catalonia in which Galician is the "vehicular language".