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Marrakech – More than 1,800 students across 95 Andalusian schools participated in the Program for Teaching Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture (Placm) during the 2024-2025 academic year. The news was revealed in a written response from the Andalusian government to a question from the Vox party.
“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, the Andalusian Minister of Educational Development and Professional Training.
She stressed that the Andalusian government “does not allocate any budget to finance this program.”
The figures for the past school year represent an increase compared to the 2023-2024 academic year, when 79 centers and 1,741 students participated. However, these numbers remain below the peak reached in the 2018-2019 year, when 108 centers and 3,407 students were involved in the program.
The Placm originated from a Cultural Cooperation Agreement between Spain and Morocco signed in 1980, though the educational program itself began implementation 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.
Read also: Moroccan Universities to Introduce Arabic in Science, Engineering, and Medicine
According to the Spanish Ministry of Education, the program has several objectives. These include teaching Arabic language and Moroccan culture to both Moroccan and non-Moroccan students in Spanish primary and secondary schools.
It also aims to provide Moroccan students with education that allows them to “preserve their identity while respecting the culture of the host country.”
Additional goals focus on ensuring the students’ educational and sociocultural inclusion in the Spanish system and society by developing values of tolerance and solidarity. The program also promotes intercultural education and cooperation with families to facilitate communication with teachers.
The ministry notes that there are two implementation methods: modality A (outside mandatory school hours) and modality B (within mandatory school hours). Most centers choose to implement modality A, offering it as a voluntary extracurricular activity.
While Andalusia continues supporting the program, regional approaches across Spain vary significantly. In July, the Community of Madrid announced it would terminate its participation in the program starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
Madrid authorities cited “serious malfunctions” and lack of transparency in teacher selection as justifications, affecting over 1,400 students across 70 schools.
In contrast, Murcia took a different direction in March by incorporating Moroccan history and culture into its standard curriculum, including the Green March of 1975. This educational reform aligned with Spain’s 2022 endorsement of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara.
