The Spanish and Moroccan governments have taken decisive action to consolidate the teach Arab and Moroccan civilization in Spanish educational centers established on Moroccan territory. As ABC was able to verify, this new agreement will affect a … total of 11 Spanish schools in this African countrywhich welcomes more than 5,000 children.
But the situation of the Spanish centers in Morocco contrasts with that experienced within our borders, where the program has caused contradictory and bitterly controversial political positions. It was Mariano Rajoy who promoted it more than ten years ago, but last year the Popular Party asked the Ministry of Education that its management not depend exclusively on Morocco. The point which caused the most controversy was that of the teachers who taught the subject: Moroccan officials and therefore chosen by Rabat.
He the noise came from Más Madrid and Vox. On the one hand, one of the deputies of the formation promoted by Manuela Carmena and Íñigo Errejón declared during the community assembly that “Arabic is a language of Spain” and that “even Isabel the Catholic has not managed to erase it”. Vox upped the ante when, through a non-legal proposal (PNL), it demanded that the government eliminate it, assuring that “the Arabic language is not neutrallike no language is” and which “carries a vision of the world, cultural codes or references foreign to Spanish”.
“We withdrew the program because it had serious monitoring and information gaps”
Months later, Madrid and Murcia withdrew the subject because, according to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, “the program presented serious shortcomings in terms of control and information”, both on the part of Moncloa and Rabat. But there are still ten other communities where the program continues to be delivered, coordinated by staff from the Moroccan Embassy in Spain and the Ministry of Education and managed by the autonomous communities.
The new agreement details the presence of teaching staff
In the Spanish centers in Morocco, we said, things will be very different. La Moncloa and Rabat signed an administrative agreement on December 4, published yesterday at the BOE, which strengthens and details the presence of Moroccan teachers in these schools, updating and replacing the 2015 memorandum of understanding.
The objective of the agreement is clear: to define the conditions of Moroccan teachers in Spanish centers in the neighboring country. They will be officials of the Moroccan Ministry of National Educationselected and appointed by their own government, but with the participation of the Spanish Ministry of Education in Rabat in the process. One of the requirements is that they have “an acceptable level of Spanish language” and, “to the extent possible,” knowledge of the Spanish culture and education system. It was precisely one of delicate points which would have led Madrid and Murcia to cancel the subject.
Her the salary will be entirely covered by Moroccoand these teachers will have no working relationship with the Spanish Ministry of Education. However, within each center, they will have to comply with the internal regime of Spanish schools, they will be integrated into their educational teams and they will be educationally evaluated jointly by the inspection services of the two countries.
Teacher planning will be carried out annually. Spain will inform Morocco of the necessary places five months before the start of the course, and the neighboring country undertakes to also cover possible vacations that may arise due to retirement, illness or abandonment. The teaching times and contents of the subject Arabic language and Moroccan civilization are also fixed. Specifically, will have as reference the official program of Morocco and Spanish educational regulations, “in harmony with the axiological bases transmitted in the Moroccan educational system”. Furthermore, according to the Official State Gazette, Spain will designate a teacher in each school as coordinator, responsible for planning complementary activities and chairing meetings with Moroccan teachers.
Suspicions of one side of the strait
The signing builds on a long chain of bilateral agreements, from the cultural agreement of 1980 to the joint declaration of the High-Level Meeting of 2023. The one signed on December 4 will have an initial duration of three years, renewable for equal periods with the agreement of both parties. The agreement represents a strengthening of the institutional presence of Arab and Moroccan culture within the Spanish system in Morocco. Beyond its practical scope – teachers, timetables, curriculum – the text emphasizes its spirit: strengthen relations of “friendship and good neighborliness” between the two shores of the strait through education. Already on one side of the strait, and looking closely at the program, suspicions surface.
About The Author
