Jaume Carot (UIB) celebrates the ruling against the 25% Spanish requirement in classrooms: "I'm very happy."

PalmThe rector of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Jaume Carot, expressed his "great satisfaction" with the ruling of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB), which dismissed the lawsuit filed by Plis Educación seeking to require 25 percent of school hours to be taught in Spanish. Carot thus joined the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) and the STEI (Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage), which in recent hours have already expressed satisfaction with the court ruling announced this Thursday. "First, what the politicians say: total respect for the decisions of the judiciary," said the UIB rector when asked about the matter. In any case, he acknowledged that he is "very pleased with the ruling." "I have never understood, and I will never understand, why language is being made into an issue when it has never been a problem in this region," he concluded.

The ruling specifically refers to Plis's appeal regarding the modification of the language projects of the Mossèn Alcover, Aurora Picornell, and Sant Agustí secondary schools, and completely rejects the Spanish-speaking teachers' association's attempt to require 25% of the teaching timetable in all schools in the Balearic Islands. The TSJ had already ruled on this matter in response to an appeal filed by an individual requesting the 25% Spanish language requirement be applied at the primary school where their child was enrolled. In that case, the 2022 Balearic Islands Education Law, which does not set any percentage of Spanish, was already crucial for the Court.

The Court reminds the appellants that the foundation of the Balearic education system is subject to current regulations, and that, as the Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, pointed out in his initial response to Plis, "the language projects of the educational centers comply with the legality of the Balearic educational model, with the aim of ensuring the teaching of the two co-official languages in the territory, and that these projects account for a minimum of 50% of teaching time," something that "allows for a degree of intensity in the application of the two languages while respecting the technical and pedagogical criteria established by each center."