Murcia prepares convivencia decree

School discipline is the story here — not just bullying in the narrow sense, but the whole set of rules for how students behave in and around school. Murcia’s regional government says it is now finishing a new Decreto de Convivencia Escolar, a school convivencia decree, that would make sanctions tougher for serious misconduct, aggression and behaviour that breaks day-to-day coexistence in schools. The point is pretty clear: the region thinks the old framework is too soft, too narrow, or both. What changed this week is that the Education Ministry stopped talking about the idea as a future plan and said the text is now being finalised. ### What is Murcia actually changing? Murcia is preparing a new regional decree for school convivencia — basically the rules for discipline, respect, conflict management and anti-bullying responses in schools. The government says the new text will harden the sanctions regime for serious offences, aggression and other conduct that disrupts school life, while also reinforcing current protocols and adding new protocols proposed to respond when behaviour crosses the line. ### Why use the word “convivencia”? Because this is broader than bullying. In Spanish education policy, convivencia means the climate of coexistence inside a school — respect in class, treatment of teachers, peer behaviour, exclusion, humiliation, threats, aggression, all of it. Murcia is using bullying as the political trigger, but the decree reaches beyond classic bullying cases into the wider disciplinary disruption, intimidation or repeated low-level conflict. ### What problem is Murcia pointing to? The region keeps citing 641 protocols opened for possible bullying in the 2023-24 school year. Only 55 ended with evidence confirming bullying — 8.58% of the total — and Murcia presents that as proof that early detection is catching problems before they harden into sustained abuse. But turns out that same number can support a tougher policy too: hundreds of incidents need faster and clearer consequences. ### Why are teachers so central to this? Because Murcia is explicitly tying the decree to teacher authority. Education minister Víctor Marín says the aim is to reinforce the teacher’s role as an authority figure and create a stronger climate of respect. That sounds old-school, but the logic is practical — if staff cannot impose order quickly, every protocol arrives late. COPE’s February reporting made the case to keep classrooms under control. ### Why expand the rules beyond the classroom? Because Murcia says the decree will apply to school transport, canteens and the full period students remain in the centre’s orbit. That is a big deal. A lot of ugly behaviour happens in the gaps — the bus, lunch, corridors, transitions, the places with less adult supervision. So the region is trying to close the loophole where schools have responsibility for students but fuzzier disciplinary reach. ### Is this linked to the mobile-phone ban? Yes — politically and probably administratively too. Murcia says the phone ban introduced in January 2024 improved convivencia and cut cyberbullying. The regional government says cyberbullying files in 2025 fell 19% versus 2023, and confirmed cases involving social networks or technological means dropped 54% over the same comparison. So the decree is being sold as a response when the rules are ignored. ### So what is the real shift? Basically, Murcia is moving from isolated anti-bullying tools to a wider order-and-authority model. Last November, president Fernando López Miras announced the coming decree. By early May 2026, the Education Ministry said the text was being finalised. That progression matters — it shows the region is turning a political message of “zero tolerance” into an