Elbira Zipitria

Elbira Zipitria was a Spanish-Basque educator who pioneered home schools as a means of reviving use of the Basque language at a time when it was prohibited by the Francoist regime. She was born in Zumaia, Gipuzkoa, on 28 May 1906. She graduated from teacher-training studies in 1926 and started working at a school in San Sebastián. She also joined various political and cultural organizations that supported the Basque cause, such as Emakume Abertzale Batza, Euskaltzaleak and Eusko Ikaskuntza. During the Spanish Civil War, she moved to the French Basque Country and lived in different towns until she returned to San Sebastián in 1939. In 1943, she began to give lessons in Basque in private homes, creating a class of small children in her own home in 1946. She used an innovative pedagogical method that respected the individuality and creativity of each child. She also promoted gender equality and cultural diversity among her students. She collaborated with other teachers and activists to create more home schools or ikastola throughout the Basque provinces. The demand was so high that the authorities could not stop the expansion of these illegal schools. In 1970, the Orixe Ikastola School in San Sebastián was the first to receive official permission to open. Elbira Zipitria retired from the Orixe School in 1971 when she was 75. She suffered from depression for a number of years, apparently as a result of the problems she had experienced as a supporter of the Basque language. She died in San Sebastián on 26 December 1982. She is considered one of the most influential and emblematic figures of the Basque culture and education in the 20th century. Her legacy lives on in the ikastola schools and the Basque literacy movement that she helped to create and inspire.