Wert, the ignorant minister

Carles Capdevila
2 min

Here we go again. Minister of Education, Culture and Sport José Ignacio Wert, the "hispanicizer" of Catalan children (1), strikes back and now wants to require, by law, that schools inform all parents about their right to request Spanish-medium teaching for their children in Catalonia. Wert, the provoker. Wert, the agitator. Wert, the enemy of peaceful co-existence. Wert, the minister for ignorance. Wert, the man who hopes to be remembered for creating a conflict in schools where none existed. Wert, the minister who wants to rattle teachers, create disputes between parents, frighten school directors, force schools to lawyer up and alter their rights. Wert, the man who holds overall responsibility for education in Spain and yet is the most irresponsible of all. Wert, the man who sees classrooms and students as political weapons, as a means to his own ends. Wert, the minister who is much more worried about being the prize pupil of FAES (2) than about serving the millions of students whom he should be protecting, which is his job.

Wert’s plans will all fail. Temporarily, as is happening now with me, he will manage to upset us and disappoint us yet again. Yes, he will depress us with the fact that the person who is in charge of education does not believe in languages or liberties and rights, or the professionals’ management skills. But Wert has got us accustomed to absurd persecutions. We know where we came from, the price we have paid to get this far. We owe it to the people who fought in much more adverse circumstances, and the only way to acknowledge the past and guarantee the future for our children is to hold our ground. Always. With strength, courage, and confidence. And with joy, because cultures exist to make us happier, against those who want to make us bitter.

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1 N.T. In October 2012 the minister stated that Catalan children weren’t Spanish enough and they ought to be “hispanicised” at school.

2 N.T. Spain’s FAES is a PP think-tank to which minister Wert is closely associated.

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