In the case of the two Mossos agents infiltrated in a teachers' assembly, speaking of a greater evil is not a play on words with Trapero's rank, but an objective description of a serious abuse of power committed by the institutions. In a democracy, it is a greater evil for the police, and therefore the government, to act against the right to free assembly: quite the contrary, what the police and the government should do regarding freedom of assembly is to guarantee it. Not to monitor it. Only the meetings of criminals should be monitored and prosecuted, and we do not see police infiltrating the meetings of certain politicians with speculators and directors of vulture funds, for example. On the other hand, there is another democratic requirement that must be demanded of rulers, and that is that public education should not be questioned. Teachers are not and can never be the enemy of rulers, and if they become so, or are seen as such, then the fault lies with the rulers, never with the teachers. The work of teachers and professors is one of the cornerstones of any democratic society, and the teaching collective should be very specially listened to in their demands, respected in their decisions, and remunerated for the decisive work they carry out. Public education cannot be a space of conflict and insecurity, and even less so a space infiltrated by plainclothes police. Neither in teachers' assemblies nor, of course, in classrooms.The lesser evil is what the parties supporting the Government, and also, from the opposition, Junts, seem to have chosen. ERC, Comuns, and CUP agree on demanding the dismissal or resignation of the aforementioned Trapero, and they do not go beyond requests for responsibility (they could do so, because the scandal is, let's repeat, serious). Junts does request that councilors Paneque and Parlón fall, but these are routine requests, which they do not expect to be heeded. The Government, on the other hand, has closed ranks around Trapero and thinks, at first, of getting out of this difficult situation without anyone from the organization falling. Illa is a politician of the old school with an axiom: heads are not cut off except when there is no other remedy. From this perspective, the risk that the situation will fester is less compared to the danger of the Government showing hesitation or weakness. Therefore, once again, the choice is for an evil that is considered lesser (it remains to be seen if it is: putrefaction generates infections).In the limbo of evils, in the middle but no less toxic zone, there is the ultra-conspiratorial swarm, which these days has had more than enough material to fill the networks with all sorts of delusions, threats, and hallucinated prophecies: hantavirus, the murder of a woman (an immigrant, by the way) in Esplugues and, now, the scandal of teacher assemblies infiltrated by police. If these people come to power, even with a small part of their arsenal of lies and alternative realities, it is possible that the upheavals they preach will become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Our cousins from Morocco told us that at school they received physical punishment, whether it was a shove from time to time or blows with a ruler on the palm of the hand. We, who had loving and close teachers, were dying of fear imagining those punishments, but it was even more terrible to know that if the boy or girl came home complaining about a teacher's slap, what happened was that the father gave them another without even asking what had caused the reprimand. Fortunately, that way of linking violence with teaching has long been left behind and no one believes that blood is needed to make letters enter any human being. In that context, the authority of teachers was imposed by force and it was fear that led to respecting it. Rereading Montserrat Roig's stories about terrifying nuns who educated her is a good way to understand this world that some have never experienced.

The school canteen service in public schools is always a cause for debate. The high cost of its management, menu policy, food origin, supervision... The fronts are multiple. The debate has been a constant for years everywhere and with a very clear trend: public administration, represented by the county councils, is progressively taking over the control and management of this service, despite the reluctance of some town councils and, above all, of students' families. Families criticize the commodification of an activity that they consider essential for the development of their children and demand more participation in its decisions. “It is a space that takes more than two hours and requires it to be well constructed, well accompanied, that it becomes a well-structured learning time to avoid conflicts,” argues the director of the Federated Associations of Students' Families of Catalonia (AFFAC), Lidón Gasull, who laments the prevalence of a “completely privatized and outsourced canteen system, which is not directly linked to the school”. A large part of the reasons for this reality is that the service, previously always managed by families or the schools themselves, is now mostly managed by school councils, which entrust it to private companies through public tenders.

The school canteen service in public schools is always a cause for debate. The high cost of its management, menu policy, food origin, supervision... The fronts are multiple. The debate has been a constant for years everywhere and with a very clear trend: public administration, represented by the county councils, is progressively taking over the control and management of this service, despite the reluctance of some town councils and, above all, of students' families. Families criticize the commodification of an activity that they consider essential for the development of their children and demand more participation in its decisions. “It is a space that takes more than two hours and requires it to be well constructed, well accompanied, that it becomes a well-structured learning time to avoid conflicts,” argues the director of the Federated Associations of Students' Families of Catalonia (AFFAC), Lidón Gasull, who laments the prevalence of a “completely privatized and outsourced canteen system, which is not directly linked to the school”. A large part of the reasons for this reality is that the service, previously always managed by families or the schools themselves, is now mostly managed by school councils, which entrust it to private companies through public tenders.

I admit that when I first heard the rumor that someone wanted to introduce plainclothes police officers into classrooms, I immediately thought it was some bizarre far-right proposal. One of those that offer easy remedies to complicated problems and that inevitably become false solutions. Those so tempting and noisy ones, which last as long as a lollipop in the playground, but which in reality are gaining ground and making a national priority. I suppose that's what I wanted – what I needed – to believe. But no. With a lump in my throat, it turns out to be a governmental proposal with official backing that supposedly started Monday in thirteen educational centers. Plainclothes police officers inside our schools with a supposed preventive character: that's where we are. The unease is preventively infinite – like a solemn failure, like an undeniable defeat, like a complete renunciation–. The mere imagined image of a plainclothes officer rummaging through students' lives completely unsettles, destroys the foundations of democratic schooling, and recreates a degrading imaginary of an education subjected to police criteria of safety, surveillance, and control. Looked at from any angle, a sacrilegious absurdity. These are not times for naivety, but one believed, after a resounding general strike by teachers, as democratic as it was historical, that the response would be different, in line with the accumulated demands of the sector and following the broad social support shown in the streets by teachers from all over the country. Fewer class sizes; more pedagogical resources; better conditions; more counselors and more professionals in all areas – from integration assistants to intercultural mediators, from support staff to psychopedagogues, from speech therapists to psychologists–. Nowhere was any police presence requested – and if you pass by any public school you will see a thousand protest banners of all colors, but not a single one demanding police presence–. What is still demanded is more time dedicated to each student in training, to each life under construction, through greater community, social, and neighborhood involvement, and socially addressing the enormous difficulties in centers of high complexity. Resolving in a completely opposite direction and choosing to put police first to explain to young people how adult life works out there is, simultaneously, infantilizing adults and adulterating children. And it is discrediting the teacher, to whom we entrust the education of our daughters and sons, by exchanging moral authority for disciplinary authority. And it is also stigmatizing, center by center, social inequalities where poverty and social segregation hit hardest. And it is banishing inwards, when the war rumbles so loudly outside, the indispensable promotion of a culture of peace, disregarding the immense efforts and enormous accumulated experience in mediation, management, and transformative resolution of all conflict.At this impossible crossroads is when we must ask ourselves how on earth we have arrived here –and why and why now– and try to find out if it is all a weather balloon, a smokescreen, or a ceremony of confusion. And we don't know –it still escapes us–. It is known –form and substance– how it has been promoted: with opaque stealth and without any debate with the educational community. And we also know how we have known it: through journalistic information. Two more reasons to immediately suspend –radical defect in form– the application of the pilot plan. Unfortunately, this way of doing things fits too well with how the wet paper agreement has been signed with two majority unions that in education have been left in absolute minority and have received, in a democratic consultation, the unanimous rejection of general amendment from those they claim to represent.

Nassima arrives at the Girona Municipal School Enrollment Office (OME) completely exhausted. She had an appointment at ten in the morning, and it's now past ten-fifteen. "I went to work this morning, convinced the appointment was for tomorrow... I'm so stressed out with all this pre-registration stuff," she exclaims. A single mother with three children, her middle son is autistic, she had a premonition of this situation three years ago. That's when she fought hard with the Education Department to prevent her eldest, now 14, from starting secondary school at the Opus Dei-run school for boys in Girona, Bell-lloc College. "I wanted him to go to a public school," she exclaims, "but they didn't give me any alternatives then, and now I'd better figure it out. I can see my eldest will have to go study on the other side of the city because there are no other options or places available."

A total of 443 children and young people from the Segarra region are participating this year in a new edition of The Enchanted MirrorA cultural and educational project that, since 2019, has linked education, culture, and the local community through a collaborative process. The initiative connects schools, teachers, students, institutions, and cultural professionals in a program that combines artistic training, stage creation, and community participation. The project unfolds in two main phases throughout the school year. During the first term, participating students discover the string, wind, and percussion instruments that are part of the performance through instrumental discovery sessions, vocal technique training, and physical education. In the second phase, corresponding to the second term, the project focuses on musical and stage rehearsals with the aim of refining the songs and the dramatic action of the show. The Enchanted Mirror It is based on Jaume Ferran's work, *Cuaderno de música* (Music Notebook), with an adaptation of a text by Montse Pont and music by Jordi Castellà. The show combines a children's choir, soloists, narration, and an instrumental ensemble, and is created by an artistic and pedagogical team made up of professionals from the fields of music, theater, and dance who work together with the participating teachers and students. The project, organized by the Regional Council, is based on a shared creative process that understands artistic learning as a demanding and collective experience. Children and young people actively participate in all dimensions of the work and are part of a collective effort that fosters cooperation, perseverance, and commitment to the creative process. This process will culminate in five performances of The Enchanted Mirror at the Municipal Theatre Ateneo of Guissona, scheduled for March 19 and 20, 2026. In each performance, approximately one hundred students will participate on stage, with the simultaneous presence of several educational centers, in a format that combines educational vocation and public projection.

Italy will install metal detectors in schools to prevent students from bringing knives into the classroom after an 18-year-old boy killed a classmate with a kitchen knife at a high school in the northern region of La Spezia. The first pilot tests began on Friday at the entrance to the Einaudi Chiodo High School, where Youssef Abanoub, 18, was fatally stabbed two weeks ago by a classmate, Zouhair Atif, 19. Police officers with canine units and handheld metal detectors scanned the backpacks of all students outside the school gates. The violent death of Youssef Abanoub sparked a broad debate in Italy about youth violence and led the La Spezia police headquarters' provincial public order and security committee to decide to implement stricter security measures. The proposal was presented last week by Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara and confirmed this Thursday by the Interior Ministry through a circular sent to schools. "We need to restore parental authority and for everyone to understand that a parent's role cannot be delegated to a mobile phone," the minister declared in an interview, in which he warned of the rise in violence among young Italians. "Metal detectors in schools will be a useful tool; they are not repressive in any way, especially since those who don't carry knives have nothing to fear," Valditara asserted, responding to those who criticize a supposed "militarization" of Italian schools. Deterrent effect

According to the Italian government, the aim is to prevent the increasing use of bladed weapons by students through a system designed to have a deterrent effect. The measure can be adopted at the request of school principals, but law enforcement, with full "respect for school autonomy," may conduct surprise checks at schools "if there are specific concerns about the commission of crimes or ongoing judicial investigations in this area," the circular states. The document emphasizes that "the commission of serious acts of violence among young people, the discovery of weapons or other objects capable of causing harm in or around schools, as well as the presence of drug trafficking and consumption in areas frequented by schools, have highlighted the marginalization and illegality that permeate the social fabric of schools, requiring a coordinated institutional response." Increase in complaints

Despite warnings from institutions, Italy has one of the lowest rates of juvenile delinquency in Europe. However, according to a recent study by the NGO Save the Children, between 2019 and 2024, the number of minors reported for possession of weapons—from knives to brass knuckles or even stun guns—rose from 778 to 1,946. The first school to implement this measure was Marie Curie in Ponticelli, a troubled neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. "Three or four times a year, police officers check students at the entrance to see if they are carrying concealed weapons or drugs," explains the principal, Valeria Pirone. The decision was made after a student stabbed another two years ago. After speaking with the students, Pirone understood the magnitude of a worrying phenomenon that, she says, "the school couldn't fight alone." In an interview in the newspaper The RepublicThe headmistress acknowledges that, at first, the students were afraid, but now they accept the checks calmly because they feel safer. "If this measure deters even one student from carrying a knife in their pocket, it will have been worth adopting. But it's sad to have to do it with a dead body on the floor," she concludes.

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"I have a school very close to home, but there are so many vulnerable students." "I've found a high school with resources, good teachers, and attractive facilities, but it takes in too many immigrants and children from dysfunctional families." "I'm interested in a school's educational project, but it's extremely complex..." Now that school pre-registration is approaching, it's no surprise to hear phrases like these, which contribute to the continued high level of segregation in our education system. The problem is not solved, even though the [report/document/report/etc.] was published in 2019. Pact against School Segregation, signed by the Catalan Ombudsman, the Catalan Government, and several city councils.

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Just over a year ago, a severe weather event, known as a "DANA," devastated the Valencian Community with flash floods that claimed the lives of 230 people. The event left scenes of people clinging to cars and balconies to escape the water, and the following day, images of destruction in the streets, homes, and several schools. The lack of contingency plans for such events also caused chaos in educational centers. In fact, just a few weeks ago, the Valencian Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, even questioned whether he had been prepared. "to look after the 500,000 students and the 80,000 teachers" Valencians when he was criticized for the death of a school principal in Cheste, who died returning home after staying at the school all day during the floods.

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That Nadal doesn't go to school causes immense sadness. Why, for some strange reason of "respect for diversity" misunderstood, are children denied the chance to know the shepherd boy, the shepherdess Catalina, the mule and the ox, the singing angels, good Joseph, the boy, the raisins and the figs, the little hen, or the little devil? No, there are no Advent calendars, no Three Kings, no whistle, no puppy's woof, and no chick's chirp. No, none of these will go to school, nor will they go to Bethlehem, to Bethlehem, please.

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The Carulla Foundation's Baldiri Awards aim to recognize and promote schools and educational projects throughout the Catalan-speaking world that use culture, the arts, and language to improve and transform society. With the 2025-2026 call for applications, which will remain open until January 26, 2026, the Foundation seeks to reinforce the role of education as a key space for promoting the language and building a critical and cohesive citizenry. The awards have a total endowment of €44,000, distributed across three categories: Baldiri Arts i Llengua (Baldiri Arts and Language), Baldiri Experiències (Baldiri Experiences), and Baldiri Escola Transformadora (Baldiri Transformative School). The Carulla Foundation maintains that language and culture are essential elements for any community and, therefore, must be protected and promoted as rights to be preserved and exercised. Therefore, in this edition, the Baldiri Awards aim to highlight initiatives that use artistic languages ​​in the classroom to promote access to culture and the use of Catalan, fostering the right of children and young people to actively and committedly participate in the cultural life of their community.

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Eight French cities – Paris, Lyon, Lille, Begla, Grenoble, Montpellier, Moans-Sartós and Rennes – have decided to ban tuna and foods made with this fish from school and college cafeteria menus. The reason for the ban is the alleged health risk that can arise from eating this fish, which in some cases can contain a quantity of mercury that is considered dangerous.

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There are up to 308 public schools in Barcelona. They are located in historic buildings, renovated blocks of flats, or even newly built properties, in almost brand-new spaces. This means that each school can have very different maintenance needs and schedules, especially considering that these are spaces where hundreds of people spend hours together every day.

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The case occurred two academic years ago, and they are still suffering the consequences: "It's about two girls, sisters. They were at home when their family was evicted and they saw the police vans and the judicial procession arrive, enter their house, and evict them. Two city workers took them to school. They arrived at a safe school and were taken to a worker; they didn't arrive at a safe school and were taken to a worker. When they were late, they had no home to return to." Anna Pérez, director of the Jacint Verdaguer School in the Poble-sec neighborhood of Barcelona, recounts this case, still emotional. "There's always a case that makes you jump, that makes you say enough, and for us, this was it," she continues. This year, there are 18 other students at the school in the same situation, in the midst of eviction proceedings.

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Knowing what truth and lies mean in a world invaded by fake news. Understanding that "generalizations are often fallacies" at a time when many are talking too loudly. And engaging in dialogue in a divided world. "Understanding that polarization is avoided when you can tolerate disagreeing with your friend and still be their friend." Philosophy teachers argue that the subject they teach goes far beyond the myths and theories of the classics. It allows students to "think," "doubt," "self-criticize," and "question everything." These values and lessons they believe are "fundamental" in today's society and that adolescents cannot properly acquire because they dedicate too few hours to it. "We need time to think," says Laia Cos, who acts as a spokesperson for these teachers.

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The school year has started relatively calmly in nursery and primary schools (no strikes and, in the end, sufficient activity leaders in most cases) and the same thing is expected to happen from Wednesday in secondary schools, which also start the year earlier than usual. Complaints focus on two issues: the heat in schools, which are poorly conditioned for high temperatures; and unfinished building works, which affect various schools.

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Today was the first of the five days of industrial action called by education unions in this month of March. Unions called for mass participation to protest against the Education Department's policies and to demand improvements to the sector. At the moment, union USTEC claims that participation has been massive and exceeded expectations. The unions estimate that around 60% of school teachers have taken part in the strike, whereas Aspepc, a secondary school teachers' union, believes it is 75%. The Education Department, however, says that only 31.3% of state school teachers struck, according to data reported by 87.5% of school. At chartered schools, only 8.7% of teachers went on strike, according to data reported by 69.7% of schools. The unions claim more workers would have gone on strike had it not been for "abusive" minimum services requirements, but even so they claim the demonstration is "historical" and the strike "very massive".

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In an almost unprecedented gesture of unity, all 200 public schools in Barcelona have sent a joint letter to Education minister Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, in which they convey their "discomfort over communication and resource management". This would seem to indicate that the first of the five days of strikes called in school will have a massive take-up. In addition, schools have started to inform families that they will strike on Tuesday 15th.

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Only five of the 16 schools in Catalonia that used to separate students by sex will remain. The Institució Familiar d'Educació group, which manages ten schools in Catalonia, has announced that its secondary school groups will go co-ed as of next year. The measure, advanced by Diari de Girona, affects the centers of La Farga in Sant Cugat del Vallès (until now only for boys), La Vall (until now only for girls), Les Alzines (for girls) and Bell-lloc del Pla (for boys) in Girona and Institució Tarragona (formed by schools Aura, for girls, and Turó, for boys), and adds to what had already been done by schools in Igualada (Montclar and Mistral) and Lleida (Terraferma and Arabell). In total, there will remain five schools in Catalonia that will separate boys and girls, and they are the ones most closely linked to Opus Dei: Xaloc and Pineda, in L'Hospitalet; Viaró, in Sant Cugat; Camp Joliu, in L'Arboç, and Canigó, in Barcelona

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