This article analyses the process of creation of ikastola schools throughout the Basque Country from the 1960s onwards. These were schools whose major characteristic was to teach the majority of subjects in the Basque language in the adverse context of the final years of Franco's regime. This article deals with the social and political context in which these educational initiatives arose in the 1960s and 1970s. It describes, first, how these schools were created by a strong social movement and how it worked during that period. Secondly, it pays attention to the internal conflicts of these institutions, derived from the strong political mobilisation of the Basque society in the last years of Franco's regime and transition to democracy.