The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh; the Provincial Director of Education, Juan Ángel Berbel; and the Superior Chief of Police, José Antonio Togores, have presented the XVIII Master Plan for Coexistence and Improvement of School Security that, through talks and activities, will address in the classrooms bullying, the risks of inappropriate use of the Internet, the effects of drug or alcohol consumption as well as gender violence and that will be carried out in all the primary and secondary schools of the city.
A program that addresses school bullying, the risks of inappropriate internet use, the effects of drug and alcohol consumption, as well as gender violence, as reported in the presentation of the Plan, which in this edition has taken place in the CEIP Encarna León.
“Educating and raising awareness at such an early age as the school age helps to prevent certain risks,” said Moh, who has referred to issues such as bullying, alcohol and drug consumption, gender violence… topics that are currently very current, such as the misuse that can be made of the Internet, very accessible to boys and girls, and doing activities of this type, to raise awareness and that this helps us prevent adverse situations is important,” he said.
For this reason, the Delegate has recommended that this Master Plan be carried out one more year, which is carried out in coordination with the Provincial Directorate and the Superior Headquarters of Melilla, while thanking all the staff and all the educational centers that are going to be participants to put all the available mechanisms so that it can be carried out one more year.
“Education is fundamental and, therefore, we will continue to promote and implement actions and actions of this type, we will continue to bring to each and every one of the centers these necessary talks,” he argued, especially when they will reach more than 9,000 children and young people in our city.
Moh has been convinced that this initiative will be a success and has advanced that they will continue to bet on this type of actions to continue preventing future behaviors that may affect the coexistence or well-being of people.
Master plan
The Provincial Director of Education, who has elaborated on this subject, has indicated that the program will reach, both through the public and the concerted network, a population of 2,479 primary school students, 3,650 secondary school students and 2,893 vocational training courses.
“The talks are adapted to the different levels of curricular competence to which they are directed, which are 5th grade, where the risks of the Internet are going to be treated; 6th grade, to talk about gender violence; 1st grade of ESO, where the topic of Internet risks and bullying is going to be touched; 3rd grade of ESO, drugs and alcohol; and 4th grade of ESO and in the Vocational Training Cycles, gender violence,” he said.
Berbel recalled that this plan was launched for the first time in the 2007-2008 academic year and emerged from the agreement signed between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Interior “to respond in a coordinated way to the safety of girls, boys and young people at school and in their environment, to improve knowledge about police resources and raise their awareness of the need to eradicate violent behavior in the school environment.”
The first signed agreement included actions only for two school years, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, but in the 2009-2010 academic year, given the suitability of the measure, it was extended for two more years and lines of collaboration were developed with the Secretary of State for Equality in all aspects related to the prevention of the appearance in school of behaviors related to gender violence.
Something that has continued until today, although, as Berbel recalled, the Covid-19 pandemic forced in the 2019-2020 academic year to terminate the plan ahead of time and the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 courses have been progressively developed, adapting to the health situation of each moment, until reaching this school year where normality in the classroom is absolute.
The Provincial Director of Education has reported that, in turn, they carry out complementary, extracurricular activities with 50 other entities, both public, municipal and state, as well as third sector entities.
Surveillance school environments
The Chief of Police, for his part, has stressed that the National Police has for many years “prioritized collaboration and presence and information in schools.”
Thus, he explained that, before this Master Plan, the Citizen Participation Unit already had programs and planned conferences and talks in educational centers, as well as the Citizen Security Units, “the Citizen Brigade of all of Spain, we participated actively in the security of school environments, making presence at the entrances and exits of the school and surveillance on people who could generate risks and risk situations.”
Something, he said, was later taken to the Master Plan and that today this Plan “is very consolidated.” “The National Police in Melilla, through the Head of the Citizen Participation Unit, does, throughout the year, more than 150 talks and conferences related to these issues and to train students to know their police better and what they may require from us,” he explained.
Also, on the other hand, “improve contacts so that all these risk situations can be known at first hand and we can collaborate in the measures that are taken”, he said.
Finally, Togores reported that surveillance in school environments continues to be a priority for the National Police, with which “we have been very attached to schools for many years and we will continue to do so”.