Valentina Ilic Vigil, Director of the Center for Public Policy at Universidad Finis Terrae, is challenging the Chilean government’s recent reliance on punitive security measures in schools. She argues that the use of metal detectors and similar tactics fails to address the root causes of rising school violence.
The critique follows a period of significant instability within the national education system. Recent data shows that more than 22,500 reports of school violence were registered in Chile over the last twelve months. Threats and attempted attacks in various educational establishments have placed school safety at the forefront of the national agenda.
Vigil highlights a significant disconnect between current government policy and existing academic research. She points to hundreds of studies that demonstrate the null preventive effect of metal detectors in educational settings.
A shift toward community-based prevention
The implementation of these security tools may produce unintended consequences for the student body. According to Vigil, these measures have a negative impact on how students perceive their own safety within school premises.
The academic community has identified specific mechanisms that effectively prevent violence. These include "whole-school approach" programs that integrate various members of the educational community.
Successful prevention requires the active involvement of teachers, students, families, and school administrators. These initiatives rely on collaborative strategies and long-term engagement rather than increased policing or physical barriers.
Vigil criticizes the government for ignoring established empirical data. She argues that decision-makers are moving in a direction that contradicts scientific findings.
The Director of the Center for Public Policy calls for an end to policies that lack an evidentiary basis. She asserts that the state possesses the necessary information to implement successful interventions but continues to favor ineffective methods.
The rise in reported violence has prompted a re-evaluation of how institutions manage student safety. The presence of these documented attacks in schools has forced policymakers to react with immediate, hardware-based solutions.
The current focus on metal detectors represents one of the primary responses from the current administration. The academic sector maintains that the information required to implement effective changes is already available to the state.