Ikastetxea 1896: a private school of Basque language addressed to the bourgeoisie of Bilbao

Abstract

The article explores the experience of the private primary school «Ikastetxea», founded in 1896 in Bilbao (Basque Country). It was a pioneer centre in the use of the Basque language into the classroom. Like many other private schools that emerged in the same time and city, Ikastetxea was a one teacher school. Its most salient characteristic was its Basque curriculum and its model of linguistic immersion in Basque. At that time most of the people of Bilbao spoke Spanish (the Basque speakers were not more than 20-25% of the population of the city). In addition, the Basque language was not official and was practically excluded from the school system. In this context, the creation of a Basque-speaking school in Bilbao is striking and responds more to ideological motivations than to utilitarian needs. Ikastetxea was founded by Resurrección María de Azkue (1864-1951), an intellectual and scholar of the Basque language, and had the economic and political patronage of Ramón de la Sota y Llano (1857-1936), a prosperous businessman and leader of the Basque nationalist group Sociedad Euskalerria. The nationalistic fervor of the moment made it possible for part of the bourgeoisie of Bilbao, even if it was a mainly Spanish-speaking community, to support the project. The result, however, was irregular, partly because it had set too ambitious goals. Thus the school did not last more than a couple of years.