Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) campuses yesterday to protest what they call a judicial attack on the Basque language.
Organized by the Euskalgintzaren Kontseilua and backed by major education unions (including ELA, LAB, and STEILAS) and student groups, the rallies were sparked by a controversial court ruling. The judiciary recently intervened after some students received poor marks on their university entrance exams, forcing the university to grant them exemptions.
Protesters argue that using poor exam results to bypass language requirements rewards a rejection of Basque and undermines students who work to master it. The Kontseilua asserts that the current multi-model schooling system is failing, and they are demanding a transition to a single, generalized Basque-language education model to guarantee fluency for all students.
The Official Statement
The Basque Development Council released an official statement during the rallies, highlighting the following core points:
Judicial overreach: The Council strongly condemns the judiciary for placing itself above the UPV/EHU and the Basque Government, arguing that exempting legal litigants from language requirements deepens the “de-officialization” of Basque.
Creation of second-class citizens: By offering exemptions for poor language scores—a logic not applied to failing grades in math or Spanish—the system treats Basque as a subordinate language and treats Basque-speaking citizens as second-class.
Blaming teachers: The Council criticized the Department of Education for defense-shifting; instead of fixing system flaws, the government publicly questioned the accuracy and competence of the teachers grading the exams.
A call for structural change: Declaring that Models A and B have proven completely inadequate, the statement calls on all social, political, and union forces to abandon the current system and push for a generalized Basque language education model to ensure social cohesion.
