The city council of El Casar, a small town in central Spain, has approved a motion presented by the right-wing VOX party to request the immediate suspension of the so-called Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program (PLACM)—an initiative promoted for years by the ministry of education in collaboration with Morocco and aimed mainly at schoolchildren of Moroccan origin.
Although the PLACM is voluntary and is taught outside school hours, VOX says it represents a risk to national cultural and educational sovereignty because the content of the program is prepared and transmitted by teaching staff sent directly from Morocco, without it being properly evaluated by the Spanish state.
The motion calls on the Ministry of Education to withdraw the program from all schools in the country. It also requests that no activity financed or promoted by foreign governments that is not under the direct supervision of the Spanish government be allowed in public schools.
