The Social Council for the Catalan Language approves a ten-point plan of urgent actions to halt the decline of Catalan in the Balearic Islands

PalmThe plenary session of the Social Council for the Catalan Language, the highest consultative and advisory body on linguistic matters in the Balearic Islands, has approved a proposal of urgent actions drawn up by the Linguistic Planning Commission to address the decline of Catalan. The proposal received 21 votes in favor, 24 abstentions—mainly from representatives linked to the People's Party (PP)—and 1 vote against (Vox). Among the most urgent measures, the Council is calling for the withdrawal of the voluntary pilot program for free choice of language in schools, the creation of a language project at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), and a welcome plan for newly arrived healthcare professionals, including intensive Catalan courses and integration tools, among other proposals.

These initiatives come at a time of concern about the decline of the Catalan language. In July 2024, the Social Council formally censured the Catalan Government for its "attacks on Catalan" in a plenary session that revealed political tensions and resistance from certain institutional sectors. The proposed measures, broken down by area, are as follows: Education and Teaching

• Withdrawal of the voluntary pilot program for free choice of language from the 2025-2026 academic year.
• Development of a linguistic project at the UIB with linguistic training criteria approved by degree and supervised application.

Health and Social Services

• Requirement of Catalan language proficiency to access public health jobs.
• Welcome plan for newly arrived healthcare staff: welcome folder, intensive Catalan course and monitoring of its application.

Leisure, Youth, Associations and Sports

• Requirement of practical knowledge of Catalan in the hiring of coaches, referees, teachers of leisure schools and related personnel.
• Monitoring of knowledge level, certification and language audits.

Media

• Linguistic training and refresher courses for professionals in public or subsidized media.
• Establishment of linguistic quality control mechanisms.
• Legislative or executive measures to promote the presence of Catalan in media and audiovisual industries.

Social Networks and Technology

• Collaboration with other administrations to guarantee the presence of Catalan in the digital environment, including the metaverse and artificial intelligence (AINA Project, Digital Alliance of Catalan).
• Implementation of Catalan as the default language on the institutional websites of the Balearic Islands.

Reception and Interculturality

• Provision of Catalan reinforcement classes during school hours for newly arrived students.
• Offer of learning activities and cultural interaction with immigrant groups and associations.

Trade and Catering

• Specific training for shop and restaurant workers in direct contact with customers.
• Obligation of visibility and availability of Catalan in public service, both oral and written.

Administration and Institutional Communication

• Catalan language requirement for all public employees, regardless of legal status.
• Linguistic clauses in public procurement according to Decree 49/2018, with effective monitoring.

Alert situation

The decline of Catalan in the Balearic Islands is a well-established phenomenon affecting various sectors, from education and university to the workplace and public services. At the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), insufficient use of Catalan in teaching and research has been observed in recent years, prompting a decision to strengthen it. The university's Governing Council has approved the new Language Plan 2026-2030, which sets the language strategy for the coming years and focuses on the need to bolster the presence of Catalan in teaching, research, and university administration. The goal is to ensure that students and professors use Catalan as their primary language in all university activities, guaranteeing that graduates can fully integrate it into their professional lives without sacrificing its international dimension. According to figures collected by the UIB data department, in the 2024-2025 academic year, 41.96% of the 3,254 current undergraduate subjects were taught in the local language, a percentage that, even so, was better than the previous year, when it was 40.04%.

In compulsory education, the tests administered by the Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality of the Education System (IAQSE) for the 2024-2025 academic year show a worrying decline in students' Catalan proficiency. Second-year ESO (lower secondary) students registered a drop of 15 points, with particularly severe declines in Menorca (-22.6 points) and the Pitiusas Islands (-26.6 points), affecting both their understanding and use of Catalan in school. Furthermore, linguistic segregation continues to expand, although its impact is, for the moment, very limited. For the 2025-2026 academic year, a total of 19 schools (all state-subsidized private schools) have requested to join the pilot program for free choice of school (Language Segregation Plan). This figure represents an increase compared to the previous year, when only 11 schools joined, demonstrating the persistence of a model that, according to the majority of the educational community, weakens the normalization of Catalan and fosters segregation within the education system. The positive news for the language is that parents overwhelmingly (80.52%) prefer Catalan when choosing the language of instruction for their children's primary education.

The set of factors explained – decline in linguistic skills, segregation and reduced use of Catalan in university and public life – paints a complex picture for the language that calls for cross-cutting actions to promote its normalization.