The instructions for the patent examination and the oral exam for the baccalaureate may be in Basque for the 2024 session, indicates the Ministry of National Education

The instructions for the patent examination and the oral exam for the baccalaureate may be in Basque for the 2024 session, France Bleu Pays Basque learned on Friday April 19 from the Public Office of the Basque Language (OPLB). Its president, Maider Béhotéguy, was informed of this via a letter from the Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, which France Bleu Pays Basque was able to consult.

Writing instructions in Basque for the certificate was banned by National Education last November. After further expertise and “in light of feedback from the different academic regions concerned”the minister finally decided to “renew, for this 2024 session, the methods of processing DNB subjects and their translation in modern regional languages, in order to maintain stability”. It was a request from Basque-language schools, which had stepped up to the plate with the ministry. However, this measure will be re-evaluated for the coming years.

No change to writing for the baccalaureate

Regarding the baccalaureate, students who follow regional language specialty teaching will be able to pass “part of the grand oral in a regional language, if they choose to keep this teaching in the final year”, specifies the minister. This is a return to the situation which existed until June 2023. There is, however, no progress regarding writing.

On April 11, the president of the Basque language office, supported by all the parliamentarians of the Basque Country, slammed the door of the Ministry of National Education in the face of the administration’s refusal to move forward on this examination file in Basque.