The ikastolas of Ipar Euskal Herria were created half a century ago, thanks to the courage of a small group of fathers and mothers. Five decades later, about 4,000 students meet at 36 ikastolas. In recent years, ikastolas are in a development phase: By 2010, 5% of pupils were enrolled in ikastolas, by 2018 they account for 10% and by 2030 they will be 20%.

The sociology of the parents of ikastola has changed a lot. Even society has fundamentally changed a lot since 1969. Like many people in this territory, ikastola has always been present in my life: as a student until the age of 18, as a teacher and now as a mother. Many of my acquaintances are professors of ikastolas, workers, parents… In conversations between friends, when the gin-tonica heats the interior and liberates the language, the topic we mention is the “ikastola”. In Euskal Herria, we all have an opinion about collective projects such as ikastolas.

We often think of a ikastola isolated from the mistreatment of society as possible. And I think we don't idealize a ikastola that has never existed. This position is comfortable on the nights when the trumpets arrive one after the other, but when the time for action has come I fear that this hollow trunk will conceal the jungle.

Without denying the challenges faced by today’s ikastolas, I would like to use the following lines to underline two main contributions of this tool created for the people and the people. It's just looking at today's youth. If it is the general assembly of EHZ or the meetings between the Gaztetxe of Ipar Euskal Herria, the young people speak in Basque naturally. The generations of young people who have passed through the ikastolas Kabalkada, Libertiment and Tobera create in Basque and Basque. This was not the case today; it was French, the norm. The generations that will influence the territory in the future will be increasingly Basque and Basque. And that's not a little bit.

On the other hand, ikastolas have given new generations of fathers and mothers on the road to the Auzolan. In 1978 there were about 200 families, currently 2. 000! It is regrettable that parents get less involved, but they are more in number in favor of teaching in Basque to burn stems, carry out bed work or ensure cleaning shifts. We have to invent new paths to encourage entrepreneurship and Euskaltzalism. And it's up to us and us to invent new models of inclusion with all the new fathers and mothers. Because it will be impossible for us to win the battle for the recovery of the Basque Country if we do not overcome the battle of militancy.