Plainclothes Mossos will be deployed in schools and institutes in a pilot test to improve coexistence

BarcelonaCatalonia will test a new strategy to address the coexistence problems that some schools and institutes are experiencing: Mossos d'Esquadra officers will be deployed in plain clothes in various educational centers. The move is part of a pilot plan that will be activated in 13 centers to test a new collaboration model between the departments of Education and Interior, as reported by El País and confirmed by ARA.

For now, a mosso will be introduced into the staff of schools and institutes in the educational areas of L'Hospitalet, Vic, L'Alta Ribagorça-Vall d'Aran, and Tàrrega; and also in two centers in El Prat de Llobregat and Sabadell. Sources from the Department of Education explain that the plan will be applied "to all types of centers," meaning it is not solely intended for problematic or complex centers. They also detail that the project "stems from the increase in complexity within the educational environment and the need to reinforce the well-being of students and the entire educational community," and assure that this is "a strongly requested demand from the teaching world."

The plan foresees that an unarmed plainclothes officer will have a stable presence in the center and will carry out prevention, accompaniment, and intervention tasks "to guarantee school coexistence." "It is a pilot project that aims to promote the figure of integrated officers as points of reference in educational centers," defend the Department of Education.

Teachers and families, against

Regarding teachers, the USTEC union considers the presence of mossos in schools "very serious": "coexistence is not resolved with police," they state in a press release. The majority union in the education sector believes that Education is responding with "police logic" to an educational and social problem, and that the measure "diverts the debate from the resources that schools really need." USTEC asks the department to rectify: "If it really wants to reduce conflict, it should stop looking for headlines and provide the resources that the educational community has been asking for for years." In fact, the Secondary School Teachers' union has also criticized the measure, stating that "in no case" have unions requested this measure, nor has the teaching staff. They have also insisted that "authority in the classroom must belong to the teacher, not the police." For their part, CGT has also communicated that the union "rejects the presence of police forces in schools to resolve conflicts." Furthermore, they assure that "international studies and experiences show that the presence of police in schools does not increase security and tends to criminalize the most vulnerable students."

Family associations also view the pilot program unfavorably. Affac, which encompasses the majority of family associations of public schools and institutes in Catalonia, states that they are "completely in disagreement" with the pilot plan. "It goes in the opposite direction of what is needed in institutes, especially Catalan public ones. We must understand that those centers with more conflict are those where more students in vulnerable socioeconomic situations are concentrated."

The AFAs assure that the well-being of students cannot be guaranteed with security policies. "We have to understand that, in the end, what security forces know is about controlling force and exercising force, but in no case about educating. Therefore, what we need to do in institutes is to educate and not exercise force," they insist.

Other territories already apply it

Although in Catalonia this new coexistence plan is still in an initial phase, in other territories similar measures have already been implemented. In Spain, up to nine autonomous communities have projects of this type underway, including Galicia, Navarre, Andalusia, Madrid, and the Balearic Islands. Furthermore, the Generalitat emphasizes that, according to the OECD, one out of every two developed countries has similar collaboration programs between schools and law enforcement agencies "for preventive and community purposes".

In Catalonia, on April 21, the presentation of the plan to the educational centers that will implement it was completed. Additionally, in recent days, the project has already been explained to the family associations of the involved centers.