The president of the Teachers' Association, Mario Aguilar, expressed to Cooperativa that the union is "dismayed" after the fatal attack carried out by a student at a school in Calama, which resulted in the death of a teacher. He criticized the implementation of "band-aid" solutions that do not address mental health issues in educational institutions. "The impact of events like this is tremendous.

I can't think of a more traumatic situation with greater emotional impact (... ). It will take a very long time for that community to recover.

Colleagues there shared testimonies about the repercussions on families and the children who were close to the situation," he said. "Moreover, there will need to be a very strong and persistent effort over time, because these things leave scars that sometimes do not manifest immediately. We have seen this in other, less terrible cases (...

). This is very, very serious, and we, as a union, are more than dismayed; the shock has been very severe," lamented Aguilar. However, the leader of the Teachers' Association emphasized that what happened "is a mental health problem that, in this case, manifested in something as extreme as murder; but it is something recurrent that one sees in everyday school life.

And I will be categorical and blunt: today there is no response to that. " "There are cases where, without being special…

"The protocol says: (if such episodes occur, it orders) referral to the Cesfam. But most Cesfam in Chile do not have a psychiatrist. So, they provide some type of pharmacological sedative, but it is absolutely momentary," he indicated.

Furthermore, "referring to a hospital where there may be psychiatrists can mean waiting for care for sometimes up to two years, due to waiting lists. So, the concrete fact is that, despite the evident need in mental health, there is no response from the system," Aguilar criticized. "The previous government (led by Boric) announced a national mental health plan that apparently has remained just that, because at least in schools, it did not translate into anything new or anything one could consider a response.

And this is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed, because mental health problems are clearly growing, as evidenced by this terrible case that occurred," he asserted. Placing metal detectors "is no answer" to mental health The union leader also criticized the stance of the Ministry of Public Security after the attack, which is considering placing metal detectors in schools. When asked if he finds these measures to be "band-aid" solutions, he responded: "Yes, I agree, because it is a palliative.

(Although) we will not oppose it; if there is a school community that believes the gate can provide them with momentary peace of mind, then let it be installed. But to the previous question about mental health, the gate is no answer. " "Moreover, supposedly this could allow for the detection of dangerous items, weapons, or other elements, but I don't see it being so effective in practice.

If you have a school with a thousand students and have a gate—which is most likely to exist, because this will not be an airport with dozens of gates—how do you control that if entry to schools occurs within a range of about fifteen minutes? " Aguilar questioned. Finally, the president of the Teachers' Association stated that he has spoken with the Minister of Security, Trinidad Steinert, to whom he expressed "his willingness to collaborate absolutely as teachers and as a union in a National Plan for school coexistence and against violence," with "integral elements and resources.

" "Education needs to have more resources, not less (... ). There is talk of reducing the number of teachers, which means there will be fewer teachers to attend to students in complementary programs of sports and arts, which are excellent for mental health issues or are ways to promote harmonious emotional development in a person," Aguilar urged.

"Here we are indeed facing an emergency, and we expect the government to take the word emergency seriously and effectively address this issue," he concluded.