Politicians have once again created a controversy where none previously existed, turning a settled issue into a source of tension and uncertainty in Almoradí’s schools.
As a result, three schools in Almoradí are now demanding a simple rule: either Islamic religion is taught in every public primary school, or in none of them, warning that offering it in some schools but not others would fuel inequality and deepen segregation.
The row has erupted after the Valencian regional education department signalled that the subject may not be offered at the town’s new primary school, due to open in September. That has caused anger and confusion because families would not even be able to request the subject during enrolment, making it impossible to measure genuine demand.
Islamic religion, which is optional, has been taught voluntarily in three Almoradí public schools since the 2019–20 academic year, as part of a programme introduced in towns with large North African communities, including Almoradí, Crevillent and Catral. Despite early controversy, the subject has run without major problems for six years and is chosen by hundreds of pupils.
Now the school councils of the three centres already offering it — Manuel de Torres, Canales y Martínez and Pascual Andreu — have agreed on a joint message to the regional government: if the subject is excluded from the new school, it should be removed from all the others as well, to avoid creating obvious inequality between schools in the same town. Their position is blunt: all or nothing.
Behind the dispute lies a wider fear about segregation. Members of the school community believe the absence of Islamic religion at the new school could make it more attractive to families hoping for a lower proportion of migrant pupils there, while concentrating those pupils even more heavily in the older schools. In their view, that would create educational “ghettos” where none existed before.
The local Islamic community is still waiting for a clear official explanation and has asked to meet the town’s education councillor after Easter. For now, leaders say they want to remain cautious before passing judgment.
The issue is especially sensitive in Almoradí, where around 3,000 of the town’s 23,000 residents are Moroccan, and where pupils of Moroccan origin make up at least 30% of enrolment in each of the three public schools currently offering the subject. Any decision to scrap it would therefore affect hundreds of children.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Catral is also opening a new public school next year, but there the expectation is that Islamic religion will still be offered, avoiding the kind of divisive battle now gripping Almoradí.
