Valencia Supreme Court backs language law legal claim

VICTORY: For parents

A GROUP of furious parents have scored a major victory in their battle against the Generalitat Valenciana.

The regional Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) has stepped in to temporarily suspend the council’s decision to phase out the Spanish language in schools by 2019.

It comes after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Alicante and Valencia in recent weeks.

A delighted Kristin Tennebø of the Idiomas y Educacion group once again spoke exclusively to the Euro Weekly News in the wake of the landmark decision.

“We are going to get this law overturned,” said the Norwegian mum-of-three and lead activist.

“This is only the second time in history that (a regional law being suspended) has happened.”

Children face receiving over 80 per cent of classes in Valenciana, a form of Catalan spoken throughout the Valencian Community, under the new rules, which are due to be introduced in junior schools this September with secondaries to follow. 

However, the decision sparked outrage, with parents concerned over the future of their children if they are not taught in the official language of Spain.

This led Kristin and other expat mums and dads to team up with national parents’ federation CONCAPA and other platforms to present a united front.

And it appears their persistence might be paying off after Alicante’s provincial council expressed its support and lodged an appeal with Valencian authorities.

As things stand the TSJ has suspended the controversial decree on a ‘precautionary’ basis with investigators now set to probe whether pupils’ human rights would be violated by the changes.

With the Generalitat to appeal the decision after an outraged vice-president Monica Oltra expressed her “confusion” over Alicante Council’s behaviour, the parents’ fight is not over yet, with another rally to leave from Calpe’s Plaza Colon at 7pm on June 16.

“We are really happy with the way things are going and there’s no way that we’re giving up now,” Kristin confirmed.

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