A local council in mainland Spain has voted to suspend the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program currently offered in several schools across the region.
The motion, presented by the VOX Municipal Group of the El Casar council, was approved during the most recent plenary session with support from both VOX and the Partido Popular (PP).
As reported by La Crónic, the measure passed with seven votes in favor — comprising VOX and PP councillors — against five votes from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and Unidas por El Casar. One PSOE councillor also abstained.
VOX’s spokeswoman in El Casar, Olga González, defended the motion by invoking a need to protect Spain’s cultural identity. “The initiative responds to the defense of Spanish cultural identity and the need for the public education system to remain free of foreign interference and ideologies alien to our roots,” she said.
The program in question, formally known as the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program (PLACM), is coordinated by Spain’s Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Moroccan government. It is primarily aimed at students of Moroccan descent and is already being implemented in several schools across the Castilla-La Mancha region. Though the program is officially described as extracurricular and voluntary, VOX has raised concerns over its content and oversight.
“It involves the institutionalization of a culture alien to our roots within the public education system, taught by teachers sent directly by the Moroccan State and with content whose transparency and supervision are far from guaranteed,” VOX argued.
Councilor González further elaborated on her party’s position, stating, “Spain is a welcoming country, but it cannot and should not renounce its identity to please globalist agendas or foreign diplomatic interests. Our priority is and must be cultural unity, real integration, and respect for our historical and constitutional values.”
VOX has sought to reform the education system across regions in which the party has influence. In January this year, Remix News reported on a parliamentary inquiry instigated by the party that found around 200 schools across the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia now teach Islam as part of their curriculum.
VOX linked the findings to demographic data from the Infancy and Adolescence Observatory in Andalusia, published in November 2024, which highlighted that Moroccans make up the largest group of non-Spanish nationals under the age of 19 in the region, accounting for nearly 30 percent of foreign nationals in this age group.
“It is revealed that the Andalusian region has succumbed to the effects of the permanent arrivals of immigrants from the Maghreb, mostly Muslim areas and with a high number of practitioners,” the local VOX party stated in a press release at the time.
“Indeed, the development and presence of this matter in the Andalusian classrooms clearly represents the priorities of the current Andalusian popular government,” it added.
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