The Government rectifies Parlon's words and says the Mossos' plan in schools continues

BarcelonaThe controversy surrounding the pilot test to integrate police officers into Catalan schools continues. This morning, the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, admitted that the plan is in "paralysis", but minutes later, from the same Ministry of the Interior, it was clarified that the words had been "decontextualized" and that the pilot test "continues with the changes that were initially made". However, they did clarify that no new centers will be added "until a clear evaluation of how it has culminated is obtained". In this regard, sources from the Interior point out that the conclusions will be available during the first quarter of 2027. "It will be then when the future of the proof of concept will be decided", they assure.

In fact, when the plan was launched in April, 14 schools and institutes in the country joined it, but after the strong controversy generated around the project half of the centers withdrew.

An "inopportune" moment

The mess occurred during an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, where Parlon admitted that the trial "emerged at a totally inopportune moment" that made it "unviable to prosper" and assured that it was now "in a state of paralysis". In this regard, the minister said they had to see if it could be resumed in the future, "when the conflict has been resolved". Beyond the nuance from the Interior department, at midday, the government spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque, wanted to cut short the controversy over the contradictory messages: "The program continues as planned [...] There is no news regarding this project", she assured, confirming that up to seven centers included in the pilot trial are being maintained. Furthermore, the spokesperson also insisted that "there are no different opinions on the matter" and that "the entire government thinks and conveys the same about this pilot trial".

In the morning interview, Parlon once again defended the pilot trial and justified that it is a project that makes sense to implement because it focuses on the contribution an officer can make to conflict resolution. Furthermore, he said it is a plan that "is not born in an office" but from "practice with local police officers". In fact, various sources explained to ARA that the epicenter of the pilot trial to integrate mossos into educational centers was the Sant Cosme neighborhood of Prat de Llobregat, where there were different institutes that had experienced conflicts due to external problems that ended up affecting the centers.Regarding the agents' work, a few weeks ago, in an interview with this newspaper, the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, detailed that the tasks of these officers depend on the center to which they have been assigned: "There are centers where, in fact, these people were already working from a different perspective and, therefore, know the reality of the centers very well, which is why more progress has been made. In other schools or other institutes, it is a person who is now observing everything that is happening, meeting with the management team to see what profile of students there is and how to deal with the situation," she described. Furthermore, Niubó also admitted that there was a moment of tension with the teacher mobilizations, which is why "what is to be expected is that it will be mainly from the start of next academic year that [the plan] can gain more speed".