The Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, announced today that the Government Delegation will promote the participation of women victims of abuse and gender violence in the talks to sensitize the educational community of Galicia within the Master Plan for School Coexistence. Pedro Blanco presided today in the Subdelegation of the Government in Ourense the provincial follow-up meeting of the Plan that the Ministry of the Interior has been developing for more than a decade to improve security in educational centers.
In this province, the awareness-raising talks on gender violence include in certain cases testimonies of women who were victims of abuse and male violence. This commitment was promoted by the Unit against Violence against Women of the Government Subdelegation. The delegate stressed that “the experience showed that the participation of the victims had a great impact on the students and it is our intention to take this initiative from Ourense to the rest of Galicia”.
Along with this novelty, the delegate also announced that the Government Delegation will intensify collaboration with the concellos in the development of this plan. In this case, the collaboration will materialize with the incorporation of the local police of the concellos who wish to do so in the development of awareness-raising and surveillance activities in school environments. “It is about working together for the security of schools and institutes, so the participation of local police will be very positive,” said Pedro Blanco.
The follow-up meeting was attended by the subdelegate of the Government in Ourense, Emilio González; the head of the Education Area of the Government Delegation, Lois Carballido, and heads of the specialized units of the National Police and Civil Guard that are responsible for coordinating training and surveillance activities in this province. The head of the Subdelegation’s Unit against Violence against Women, Alida Iglesias, also participated.
Master Plan Balance
Pedro Blanco highlighted that in 2023, seven out of ten educational centers in Galicia requested awareness talks within the Master Plan. In Ourense this percentage rose to 83%, with 158 participating centers.
During the year, the specialized teams of National Police and Civil Guard developed about 4,200 training and prevention activities, of which 624 were in the province of Ourense. More than 123,000 members of the educational community of Galicia participated, of which 112,800 were students, as well as teachers, management teams, parents and guardians. The participation in Ourense exceeded 20,000 people, of which 18,000 were minors.
Regarding the topics, the delegate pointed out that the most requested were, firstly, cybersecurity, especially the protection of boys and girls on social networks, followed by talks that addressed school bullying. Addictions (which include illicit substances, gambling or technology) and violence against women occupy, respectively, the third and fourth position among the most requested.
The Government’s prevention work was complemented by about 14,400 intensive surveillance in the environments of 1,500 centers throughout Galicia by the National Police and the Civil Guard. As far as the province of Ourense is concerned, the vigilance reached almost 4,000, which was developed in the environments of 171 educational centers in the province.