Balearic Cultural Organization Condemns 'Vera Plan' as Segregationist, Criticizes Catalan Language Impact

The Balearic Cultural Organization (OCB) has voiced strong opposition to the 'Vera Plan,' denouncing it as a "segregationist strategy, without pedagogical or legal foundation, that endangers the social cohesion of educational centers and aims to separate students solely based on language." This criticism was conveyed in a letter urging school management teams to reject the plan ahead of its new call for applications. Antoni Vera, the Minister of Education, has decided to relaunch the plan for the upcoming academic year, despite limited participation from only eleven centers in the previous call. The OCB argues that this plan seeks to minimize the presence of the Catalan language in educational centers across the Balearic Islands and demands its immediate withdrawal, advocating for a return to consensus with the educational community. The OCB outlines ten reasons for rejecting the proposal, deeming the plan "incoherent, illegal, inequitable, segregating, ineffective, attacking the autonomy of the center, arbitrary in the selection, conflicting, legally insecure, and destabilizing between the public and private-subsidized sectors." OCB President Antoni Llabrés expressed confidence in the pedagogical responsibility of teaching teams, asserting that teachers are best equipped to understand the sociolinguistic reality of children and young people in the territory. Llabrés also noted that the Pilot Plan is pending judicial resolution, following appeals filed by various social actors, for seeking to dismantle the application of principles derived from current regulations in an unfounded manner. Similar concerns have been raised by the Institut d'Estudis Eivissencs (IEE), which views the plan as an attack on the use of Catalan and a promotion of student segregation based on language.