The territorial delegate for Educational Development in Málaga, Miguel Briones, condemns the assault on a headteacher in Coín and calls for trust in teachers as a driver of social change.
The territorial delegate for Educational Development and Vocational Training in Málaga, Miguel Briones, has condemned the assault suffered by a headteacher in Coín at the hands of a student's relatives, which occurred in the first week of the school year. In an interview with Diario Sur, Briones expressed his "sadness, incomprehension, and urgent need to act" in response to these events, and emphasised that "violence is never justified".
The provincial head of Education explained that, in the face of such episodes, two paths are separated. The student's behaviour at the school is managed through the institute's coexistence plan, while the violent assault by their relatives follows its judicial course, for which the Delegation has offered legal and psychological assistance to the school's management. Briones stressed that the school "cannot and must not penalise the student for the violent actions committed by their parents", and insisted that educational work with the student must continue.
"Teachers should have the highest social recognition and the greatest trust from families; if we do not trust them, we renounce the greatest instrument of social transformation"
In the interview, the delegate advocated for the role of teachers beyond the transmission of knowledge. "They not only convey knowledge but also attitudes and values, helping to form not just a good student, but a citizen," he noted, while reminding that behind the classroom there is "an enormous invisible work of study, programming, and evaluation".
Briones, a classical philologist by training, referred to the shared responsibility between families and schools. He defended that education is a right of families and that the administration must provide instruction, while the family sphere is governed by emotions and affections. "By enrolling their child, the family delegates guardianship and custody to the school during that period," he explained, establishing a parallel working relationship between parents, teachers, and non-teaching staff.
Regarding the rise of parenting and education books, Briones warned that "anyone can publish" and linked this phenomenon to a certain insecurity or deficit of training in families. In his opinion, teachers must have the utmost social trust, and he compared the situation to football: "everyone thinks they understand it".
The delegate mentioned two teachers who marked his trajectory: Francisco Espejo, who taught him mathematics and biology at the Nuestra Señora de Gracia school, and Paco Osuna, a French teacher and painter who invited him to paint in oil in the afternoons. Briones stated that he hopes to regain that hobby when he retires.
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