On April 1, Chile's Official Gazette published the Law on Coexistence, Good Treatment, and Well-being of Educational Communities, authorizing metal detector portals in schools under strict conditions. The measure addresses rising school violence, including a recent student stabbing in Calama. Implementation is not immediate due to pending regulations and lack of specific funding.
The law, published Wednesday in the Official Gazette, states in Article 10 that school maintainers may use technological resources to detect weapons, provided there is community educational agreement and the measure is justified, proportional, necessary, and suitable.
Education Minister María Paz Arzola clarified that "it is not an obligation for schools, but a tool for those who deem it necessary and have their educational community's agreement." However, it requires a regulation from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Security within 12 months, plus internal protocols approved by the Undersecretary of Education after a technical report from Security.
The backdrop is rising school violence, including the murder of an inspector at Calama's Liceo Obispo Silva Lezaeta and, on the same day, an eighth-grade student stabbed by a peer outside Escuela República de Chile D-52 in that city. Carabineros detained the attacker, also a minor, shortly after.
Maintainers must fund installations from existing resources like the Preferential School Subsidy or Public Education Support Fund. Reactions differ: SLEP Santiago Centro awaits community agreements, Ñuñoa is evaluating, Vitacura prioritizes prevention, and FIDE president Pedro Díaz sees it as belated legal backing. Lo Barnechea Mayor Felipe Alessandri warns technology does not solve root issues.
