The Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Esther Niubó, ruled out this Tuesday that the pilot plan to deploy six plainclothes police officers in Catalan schools to reduce conflicts is due to “security problems” in the educational centers of the territory.
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In a statement to the media, she highlighted that these professionals, called coexistence agents, are experts in conflict prevention and mediation and that “in no case” will they replace teachers, educators or educational integrators, a measure that has not been exempt from criticism from the unions Ustec, Professors de Secundària, CGT, la Intersindical and CC.OO.
“There is no problem of coexistence or security in Catalonia or its educational centers, but we have a complex reality that has an impact on the centers and we believe that this new figure can contribute,” Niubó stated.
The project, promoted by the Departments of Education and Interior in coordination with the Mossos d’Esquadra, is being carried out in fourteen centers in six educational zones -Vall d’Aran, Vic, Urgell, Sabadell, El Prat de Llobregat and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat-, where the agents are present without uniform, unarmed and without accessing the classrooms, acting under the supervision of the management.
“The centers have not been chosen for their conflict level or for being highly complex, but for criteria of proximity to the territory and in coordination with the centers,” Niubó reiterated, adding that there are centers where Primary, Secondary, post-compulsory education is taught, and from metropolitan and rural areas.
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The plan contemplates a first assessment in July to decide whether some actions need to be adjusted in September, and there will be a final evaluation in the first quarter of the 2026-2027 academic year, around December or January, to assess whether the project is scalable and can be deployed in other areas of the territory.
Niubó assured that the fourteen centers where the pilot test has already been deployed “have agreed to participate, without forcing anyone” and that in a round to analyze their assessment of the first days “all have wanted to remain in it.”
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“There have even been other centers that wanted to join, but for now it will not be possible,” she pointed out.
The minister emphasized that it is a project that “has been deployed only a few days ago” and that, for now, the six coexistence agents are focused on understanding the functioning of each center and, subsequently, will coordinate with the management and faculty to act when appropriate.
The parliamentary groups of Junts and Comuns have today advocated for the withdrawal of the pilot plan. The ‘juntaires’ also request a monographic debate in committee in the Parliament to address the Government’s “management crisis” in educational matters.
“We have a complex reality that has an impact on the centers and we believe that this new figure can contribute,” she says
This Tuesday, the union majority of Catalan public education, represented by Ustec, Professors de Secundària, la Intersindical and CGT, announced a new cycle of strikes following those in March to protest against the educational agreement signed by the Government, CC.OO. and UGT and the Ministry of Education’s refusal to reopen negotiations. CUP has expressed its support for these stoppages.
In response, Niubó assured that she “respects the mobilizations and strikes by the unions,” but reiterated the department’s intention to “deploy the agreement so that it has an impact as soon as possible” on the educational system.
“We would like the rest of the unions to want to join,” the minister concluded.
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