Pedro (not his real name) distributes leaflets after school. It is 5:00 p.m. last Tuesday, departure time. As they leave the premises, the students’ parents take the paper and look surprised when they read it. “Justice”. The text talks about Pedro’s brother, a sixth grade student, who has been home for more than 60 days without going to school. Two months ago, he assured that in 2024 he had suffered a sexual assault by another classmate in the dormitories and the family is demanding solutions to recover his schooling without having to leave school. ”The situation is unsustainable,” laments Pedro. The conflict reflects the difficulty of the educational system in responding to very complex situations in which the stories of two minors come together, the need to protect all the parties involved and to act without a clear determination of the facts.
Upon learning the minor’s story on February 8, the family transferred him to school the next day. The center activated the Action protocol against any type of violence in the educational fieldseparated the two children and the accused was relocated to the other class of the same grade.
However, according to Pedro, the measure was revoked by the Inspection after three days because the case “was passed on to higher levels.” “They didn’t give us any explanation about the reasons for the decision,” he says. Sources familiar with the case agree that the family of the other minor involved warned of the impact of the segregation measures and the accusations received.
The protocols of the Department of Education emphasize the importance that, in situations of sexual assault between students, the intervention process must be guided by four premises: believe the victim’s version, protect her and refer her to specialized units for follow-up over time. However, the same sources admit the difficulty of applying these principles in situations in which there are two accounts that are not necessarily contradictory, but are subject to different interpretations. Pedro, in any case, remembers that his brother experienced a case of sexual violence and that, as a victim, he does not receive the necessary support from the institutions.
As solutions, Pedro assures that the school and the Consorci d’Educació of Barcelona proposed a change of class for his younger brother, the application of a map of protective measures, which aims to isolate contact between the two children despite living in the same class, or maintain schooling electronically. The family rejected it, and as a last resort requested a mix of all the students without those involved coinciding. Since then, Pedro’s brother has gone more than 60 days without going to school. The center, located in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, refuses EL PAÍS to present its version.
The lack of progress irritates the family. At the end of March, he presented a complaint to the Consorci d’Educació of Barcelona for the lack of responses, in which he accused the school of “not taking responsibility” for some events that occurred under his tutelage during the fourth-year camps and of not offering alternatives. “My son is increasingly sad and depressed,” the woman laments in her writing. In addition, he demanded “immediate” incorporation without having to share a classroom at any time with the reported classmate. “I formally communicate the extreme seriousness that the situation is having on the minor on an emotional, psychosocial and academic level,” the mother emphasizes in her request.
The conflict passed into the hands of the integrated care unit for children and adolescents victims of sexual violence (Barnahus), which contacted the family on March 23. “In view of these events, which the students state would have taken place two years ago and among students who were then in fourth grade, it has been considered that, to preserve the rights of the minors involved, the case should be managed by a specialized and expert service,” responds the Consorci d’Educació at the request of EL PAÍS. Barnahus now carries out monitoring in order to “adopt support and accompaniment measures that guarantee the emotional, social and academic well-being of minors,” he adds. The minor’s first visit with specialized psychological care, according to Pedro, did not take place until April 7.
Now the family is studying the new proposals after a meeting held at the Consorci last Friday. “They offer us the same thing: a change of class or leaving school,” Pedro summarizes. The Consorci defends that the educational environment must offer protection measures and guarantees for “the two students involved.” One of them, however, has already gone more than 60 days without going to class.
