Vox wanted to drive Arabic language and Moroccan culture out of Catalan schools. The Catalan Parliament has now firmly rejected that attempt. A majority of lawmakers voted against the far-right Spanish party’s proposal to end these classes in certain schools in the northeastern region of Spain.
The People’s Party (PP), the main conservative party in Spain, voted in favor of scrapping the program. Catalan Socialists (PSC), the pro-independence parties Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana (ERC), as well as left-wing parties Comuns and CUP, opposed the proposal. Aliança Catalana, a far-right pro-independence party, abstained.
Beyond the vote itself, the result highlights Spain’s political divisions over an educational initiative that has been in place for years under the framework of cooperation between Morocco and Spain.
Catalonia is not the first region where Vox has sought to have these classes abolished. In Extremadura, in western Spain, the governing agreement between the PP and Vox has already led to the program being discontinued in schools in Talayuela, a town where more than 200 students had benefited from it. In Catalonia, however, Santiago Abascal’s party failed to secure the majority needed to push its proposal through.
What Vox objects to in Arabic and Moroccan culture classes
To understand the controversy, it is important to look at the Moroccan Arabic Language and Culture Teaching Program, known in Spain by its Spanish acronym, PLACM.
The initiative is part of educational cooperation between the two countries. It allows children of Moroccan origin attending schools in Spain to learn about the Arabic language and the culture of their country of origin while continuing their education within the Spanish school system.
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The 2012 bilateral agreement provides for the promotion of Arabic language and Moroccan culture in Spain, as well as the promotion of Spanish in Morocco. This is therefore a reciprocal cooperation program, not an initiative created unilaterally by Rabat.
It is precisely Morocco’s involvement that Vox challenges. The party objects to Morocco funding the classes through the Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans Living Abroad, as well as to the role of Moroccan authorities in selecting teachers.
Vox also questions the program’s objectives, including preserving children of Moroccan origin’s cultural ties with their country and supporting their integration into the school system and wider society. Yet several essential facts are often left out of the debate. These classes are optional and, in most cases, take place outside compulsory school hours. They do not replace any subject in the Spanish curriculum and are not religious instruction.
In other words, the students concerned follow the same compulsory curriculum as their classmates. Arabic and Moroccan culture classes are simply added to it on a voluntary basis.
From Extremadura to Andalusia, the controversy spreads
Vox’s attempt in Catalonia is not an isolated episode. As early as October 2025, the party called for the program’s rollout in Catalan schools to be blocked, portraying it as an instrument of indoctrination.
Since then, opposition has spread to other Spanish autonomous communities. These regions have significant powers over education and can therefore influence how certain classes are organized.
In Extremadura, the coalition between the PP and Vox led to the program being scrapped in Talayuela. In Andalusia, in southern Spain, an agreement between the two parties provides for the program not to be renewed from the 2027-2028 school year, as Le360 previously reported.
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Catalonia has taken a different path. Despite the PP’s support for Vox’s initiative, a parliamentary majority bringing together parties with widely differing political positions refused to challenge the program.
The stakes now go beyond Arabic classes alone. In several Spanish regions, an educational cooperation program has become a political battleground, caught up in debates over immigration, cultural identity and the integration of people of foreign origin.
The Catalan Parliament’s decision does not put an end to the controversy. It does, however, show that Vox’s initiatives do not produce the same results everywhere and that educational cooperation between Morocco and Spain continues to enjoy support across several political groups.
After the decision to abolish the classes in Extremadura and the restrictions announced in Andalusia, Catalonia has now rejected Vox’s push to end them. Arabic and Moroccan culture classes will remain in place in the region, for now.
