MADRID - A Spanish Supreme Court ruling established that schools in Catalonia must carry out at least 25% of their lessons using Spanish as the main language.
The ruling was declared final by the Catalan regional court after the latest appeal was rejected.
The Catalan regional government has 10 days to put the ruling into effect, but the deadline could be subject to appeal.
The question of languages ;;used in Catalan schools is an issue that has been eliciting debate and controversy for some time in Catalonia.
The region's current political leaders lean towards a pro-independence stance, and part of the educational community supports the need to use Catalan as the main language, to prevent reducing its dissemination.
However, some families in the region have asked for part of the lessons to be carried out in Spanish.
"Catalan cannot be touched, nor can the Catalan schools," tweeted Catalan President Pere Aragonès.
"Enough with attacks on the language, education and the whole country. We will not allow social cohesion to be compromised. We are working on regulatory implementation to strengthen the Catalan school model. Enough with politicising the language".
