Three of the six institutes selected in the province of Lleida for the pilot plan of police presence have openly rejected participating in the initiative. The formal refusal of the Lo Pla d'Urgell Institute of Bellpuig to the Department of Education consolidates a front of opposition that already included the Alfons Costafreda centers of Tàrrega and Ribera del Sió of Agramunt.
The project, the result of collaboration between the departments of Education and Interior of the Generalitat, aimed to incorporate agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra in these educational spaces during the school year.
Resistance extends beyond Lleida
It is not an isolated phenomenon in the inland regions. The Margarida Xirgu institute in L'Hospitalet has also publicly distanced itself from the program promoted by the Catalan Government. This sum of rejections leaves the pilot plan with a testimonial implementation in the area where it was supposed to start with greater force.
Only two centers from Lleida maintain a different stance on the institutional proposal.
The management of the Escòla d'Ostalaria de Les is the only center in the demarcation that has explicitly expressed its intention to collaborate with the initiative. For its part, the Manuel de Pedrolo institute in Tàrrega has not issued a formal rejection, although internal sources confirm the existence of an intense debate within the educational community about the advisability of accepting the measure.
Unarmed officers to "promote coexistence"
The regional executive defends that the strategy seeks to improve the school climate through plainclothes and unarmed agents. The Generalitat assures that the presence aims to foster coexistence in educational centers as a preventive tool against conflicts.
"Assigning police officers means stigmatizing the schools and some of the students" - Unions and family associations
Numerous unions, student family associations, and educational sector entities have questioned this argument. Detractors consider that the measure negatively labels students, especially those in situations of social or academic vulnerability.
The controversy erupts in a high-tension scenario in the sector. Current teacher mobilizations demand salary and labor improvements, in addition to an urgent reduction in student-teacher ratios per classroom.
Curiously, an educational center in Baix Llobregat that was not part of the initial selection for the pilot plan has requested on its own to incorporate police officers into its facilities. This request contrasts with the majority rejection of the institutes officially designated to test the model.
The discrepancy between governmental theory and actual acceptance in the territories marks the current state of the deployment. While the administration insists on the preventive nature of the measure, the majority of directors of the planned centers in Lleida have opted to keep the Mossos d'Esquadra out of their hallways.