“Languages open doors” Denia protest

Dozens of people united in Denia to protest against the cancellation of language centres, expressing the value of languages and education in the Costa Blanca. 

On April 18, at 5.50pm students, teachers and management teams united in front of the IES Sorts de la Mar in Denia to protest against the Ministry´s cuts in the EOI (The Official Language School) of Denia and Javea.

The protest came as a response to the announcement made in the same week which stated that Denia would eliminate 12 English, French and Spanish lessons for foreigners and Javea´s language school would shut down altogether.

The Minister of Education in Generalitat Valenciana, Jose Antonio Rovira linked this “reorganisation”, as his team called it, to the lack of students in the centres. Yet on the day of the demonstration, it became evident that the language centres had a large number of students with a desire to learn who urged the Ministry to revise the matter, proving their commitment to diversity and education.

Javea´s language school has been receiving students for 20 years, with more than 100 attendees per year. Denia, the home of 107 nationalities has a foreign population listed as 15.278 in a 2023 study by the Denia website.

The role of the language centres in the region then appears to be essential to maintaining cultural and economic collaboration, hence the Ministry´s decision is facing significant criticism. 

The protestors of different ages and nationalities gathered with posters including the slogans “languages ​​open doors, cuts close minds”, “no language is left over” and “RIP EOI”, expressing their desire to study and to have access to international communication. 

The banners in Spanish, English, Valencian and other languages signalled; “We want to study Spanish at the EOI in Dénia,” “we want to study Valencia at the EOI in Dénia,” «we want to study English in Dénia.” 

The Ministry has not issued a response. What will be the solution?