Breton Medium Education Gains in Brittany

The following was published in September 2013 by the Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) project, a partnership between four language communities: Breton in Brittany, the Frisian language in Friesland, the Swedish language community in Finland, and the Welsh language in Wales. The project was funded by the European Commission, and was running between November 2009 and October 2011. The report was published on the web site of the Network To Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD), a European wide organisation dedicated to the importance of linguistic diversity.

Breton-medium education on the increase in Brittany and Finisterre

Breton medium education had seen a 4.3% increase, marking the 36th year of consecutive growth in the region. These recently released figures include both the number of pupils enrolled in Breton and bilingual Breton-French medium education.

The public bilingual sector (Div-Yezh) now has 6,662 students showing 6.5% growth while the Catholic Dihun schools have now got 4,971 pupils, growing 3.0%. The Diwan Breton medium schools have now got 3,705 enrolled showing a 2.2% growth overall.

Penn ar Bed and Finistere shows a marked increase with 5 new schools opening whereas the city of Brest is the location where most students have enrolled in Breton-medium schools (57,442 students).

These figures are a sign of the growing determination and willingness of parents wishing to maintain their language and transmit it to their children. It is also a testament to the good work of associations and bodies such as the Office Publique de la Langue Bretonne who have been key in maintaining this trend.

The battle, however, is not won yet.

The increasing number of students has highlighted the need of more teachers, who are better trained, with a strong command of Breton. The lack of these teachers presently, along the fact that the French state does not support the Breton-medium schools are the two main challenges all facing those working to revitalize the language.

The NPLD congratulates the Publik ar Brezhoneg / Office Publique de la Language Bretonne for their success in achieving these goals. For more detailed information, please visit the Office’s website (in French and Breton).

http://www.npld.eu/melt/news-and-events/latest-news/71/bretonmedium-educ...