50 Years of La Bressola: Catalan Immersion Milestone Celebrated in Andorra

The Centre Cultural La Llacuna hosted a commemoration marking 50 years of La Bressola, a pioneering Catalan-language immersion project in northern Catalonia that began in 1976. The event highlighted parallels with Andorra's own educational system, which emphasises linguistic and cultural transmission amid similar challenges.

La Bressola operates seven schools and two institutes across various municipalities, serving around 1,200 students with about 100 staff members. Despite ongoing struggles, including limited funding, participants described it as a "permanent miracle" that inspires others. Aleix Andreu, commissioner for the anniversary year, noted the project's endurance through hardship: "We've laughed a lot and cried a lot... We often think we can't continue, but we do."

The celebration featured a video from students, teachers, and families who summed up La Bressola's ethos as hard work, friendship, homeland, history, language, and freedom. One teacher said children "live in Catalan and play in Catalan," fully immersed in Catalan culture. Families praised events like La Bressolada, which unites all centres to show "there are more people who speak Catalan."

Maria Cucurull, president of Cultura Activa, opened the event with a stark observation: for the first time across Catalan-speaking territories, native speakers form a minority. Guillem Nivet, La Bressola's president and a product of the system, called it an "oasis of Catalan language" that must remain open, not a ghetto. He pointed out that 90% of students' families do not speak Catalan at home. The project emerged when teaching in Catalan was banned in France, but progress has followed, including constitutional recognition and a 1995 cooperation agreement with the French Education Ministry under François Bayrou.

Rosalina Areny, a Catalan teacher at Andorra's Lycée Comte de Foix, drew direct links to Andorra. She recalled the introduction of "Andorranisation" classes in 1975 within French and Spanish systems, predating the national network. Today, mandatory training on Andorran language, culture, and institutions is embedded in all three systems—French, Spanish, and Andorran—while respecting their curricula. Areny, who once trained at a La Bressola school, described having three educational streams as an "undisputable asset," provided all children in the Principality gain knowledge of their country.

The anniversary forms part of wider celebrations across Catalan-speaking areas, underscoring shared efforts to bolster the language from grassroots levels.