65% of Families in Alicante Choose Spanish as the Primary Language for Education

65.89% of families in the province of Alicante have chosen Spanish as the primary language for their children's education, according to recent consultation data. Alicante is the only province in the region where Spanish is the most preferred language.

By province, Valencian is the preferred option, especially in Castellón, with 70.50% choosing it over 29.50% for Spanish. In Valencia, the results are closer, with 57.84% opting for Valencian compared to 42.16% for Spanish.

50.53% of families in the Valencian Community included in the consultation census have voted, choosing Valencian over 49.47% who opted for Spanish.

The figures were announced by the Councillor of Education, José Antonio Rovira, this Thursday at a press conference, accompanied by the Regional Secretary of Education, Daniel McEvoy, and the Director General of Educational Planning and Language Policy, Ignacio Martínez Arrúe.

Rovira celebrated the results, stating that this consultation 'has won pluralism over the single model' and demonstrates 'it was not a competition between Valencian and Spanish, as some entities wanted to see'. 'Both languages win', he remarked, emphasizing that it was 'the families who decided, not this administration or any other organization'.

The Education head expressed his 'satisfaction' as the 'snapshot' of the consultation data 'shows that Valencians have opted for balance and coexistence between the two co-official languages of the Valencian Community'. With these numbers, he noted, the Ministry will now take 'the final step in planning for the next school year', where 'only what the families have decided will prevail, nothing more, nothing less'.

In the consultation, 58.61% of families in the Valencian Community voted, as announced by the councillor on Wednesday, who described the result as a 'success' and predicted that with this percentage, practically '100% of students will enter their preferred language'.

According to data provided by the Ministry, 339,411 families voted, 42,264 of them in the province of Castellón—the area with the highest percentage of votes at 59.81%; 170,141 in Valencia (58.81%); and 127,006 in Alicante (57.96%).