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Marrakech – The government of Murcia has officially confirmed the cancellation of the Program for Teaching Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture (PLACM) for the 2025-2026 academic year. It announced the decision on September 9, the first day of the school year, following months of pressure from the far-right Vox party.
The program, which had been operating in the region since 2012, was entirely funded by Morocco through the Ministry of Education and the Moroccan Embassy in Spain. It served approximately 350 students across 10 educational centers in Murcia, representing just 0.1% of the region’s 320,000 total student population.
Murcia’s Education Councilor Víctor Marín confirmed the cancellation during a press conference marking the beginning of the school year.
When questioned about the program’s future, Marín stated: “The government’s will is to fulfill the budget agreement. I believe the response is eloquent.” He further noted that the regional government would “comply with this agreement within its competencies and with respect for legality.”
The decision stems directly from point 2.4 of the budget agreement signed in June between the Popular Party (PP), the center-right, conservative mainstream force, and Vox, the far-right, nationalist-populist party.
This decision explicitly stated that “the Government of the Region of Murcia, within its competencies, will not develop any program in educational centers promoting Arabic language and Moroccan culture, as occurs in other autonomous communities.”
Meanwhile, Vox’s regional leader, José Ángel Antelo, celebrated the agreement. “Those who come from outside Spanish borders must adapt to the customs and education of the country,” La Razón quoted him as declaring. “They have other countries where they can learn other types of cultures.”
Canceled despite being fully funded by Morocco
The Moroccan Consulate in Murcia has expressed regret over the program’s cancellation, stressing its voluntary, extracurricular, and cost-free nature for families. Officials added that participating families had benefited significantly from the mediation work performed by the program’s teachers.
Spain’s Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, Elma Saíz, has strongly criticized the agreement between Vox and PP. On her social media, she referenced incidents in Torre Pacheco and Jumilla, condemning the decision as harmful to coexistence in the Region of Murcia by promoting “discrimination and tension” among citizens.
This decision follows similar action by the Community of Madrid, which announced in July it would terminate its participation in the program.
Madrid authorities cited “serious deficiencies in control and information” regarding the program’s content and teacher qualifications as justification for the cancellation, which affected over 1,400 students across 70 schools.
According to El Confidencial, the timing of these decisions coincides with growing tensions between Spain’s Popular Party and Morocco. Relations began deteriorating in early July when the conservative party invited Abdullah Arabi, a representative of the separatist Polisario Front, to its congress.
Morocco expressed its displeasure by temporarily closing the recently opened customs offices in the Spanish-occupied enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and by reactivating the Committee for the Liberation of these two cities.
Promoting identity, inclusion, tolerance, and cultural understanding
In stark contrast to Murcia and Madrid’s approach, Andalusia continues to embrace the program. During the 2024-2025 academic year, more than 1,800 students across 95 Andalusian schools participated in the program.
This represents an increase from the previous year when 79 centers and 1,741 students were involved, though still below the peak reached in 2018-2019 when 108 centers and 3,407 students participated.
“The PLACM teaching staff is entirely managed and financed by the Kingdom of Morocco, under the Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed between the Spanish and Moroccan governments, which also handles their selection and appointment,” said María del Carmen Castillo, Andalusia’s Minister of Educational Development and Professional Training.
She drew attention to the fact that the Andalusian government “does not allocate any budget to finance this program.”
The PLACM program originated from a Cultural Cooperation Agreement between Spain and Morocco signed in 1980, though implementation began in 2012. It is coordinated by staff from the Moroccan Embassy and the Spanish Ministry of Education, with content delivered by Moroccan civil servant teachers.
According to the Spanish Ministry of Education, the program aims to teach the Arabic language and Moroccan culture to both Moroccan and non-Moroccan students.
It seeks to help Moroccan students “preserve their identity while respecting the culture of the host country” and ensures students’ educational and sociocultural inclusion in the Spanish system by developing values of tolerance and solidarity.
Thriving on identity politics
Spain’s far-right Vox party, however, has long thrived on fueling division, and nowhere is this clearer than in its relentless hostility toward Morocco.
Cloaked in the language of hardline nationalism and anti-immigration rhetoric, Vox weaponizes Morocco as a convenient “foreign enemy,” a scapegoat it exploits to rally discontented voters and mask its own lack of substantive solutions.
This tactic is neither new nor original – throughout history, extremist movements have manufactured external threats to consolidate domestic power, from fascist regimes in Europe to modern populists elsewhere.
By demonizing Morocco, Vox not only poisons bilateral relations but also undermines Spain’s credibility as a serious partner in the Mediterranean. Such politics of fear and exclusion expose the party’s true weakness: a dependence on stoking xenophobia instead of offering constructive visions for Spain’s future.
Reportedly, Murcia had taken a different approach last March by incorporating elements of Moroccan history into its standard curriculum, including the Green March of 1975. This educational shift was said to align with Spain’s 2022 endorsement of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara.
The Green March marked a crucial moment when Morocco peacefully reclaimed its southern provinces through the mobilization of 350,000 unarmed volunteers after years under Spanish colonial control.
The contrasting educational policies across different Spanish regions reflect the complex and evolving nature of Spanish-Moroccan relations, with implications for cultural exchange, diplomatic ties, and regional cooperation.
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