Esther Niubó: "I am not resigning because it would surely be the easiest thing"

In the midst of the strike on the first day of school and a few minutes before learning the results of the PISA tests, from which Catalonia has been excluded for excluding more students than permitted, the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, completely rules out stepping down from her position. "I am not quitting because it would surely be the easiest thing to do in the face of a complex scenario. I am very clear about my job," the head of Education defended. She did so in an interview on RAC1 where, when asked if she had considered resigning, she replied that "such decisions are kept to oneself." "I am not proud of the educational system I inherited; I want to leave a stronger system in better conditions for our sons and daughters," she assured.

Regarding the work stoppage called for this Tuesday, Niubó admitted that "there is unrest in the educational community," but insisted on "valuing the government's budgetary effort in the form of more teachers and more educational support staff." "We hope that the measures can begin to be felt this start of the school year," she wished. Furthermore, the minister admitted that the pending challenge is the planning and deployment of inclusive schooling. "A decree was approved without resources, which have been gradually expanded," said the minister. "We must recognize that teachers are doing a spectacular job because the classrooms are not the same as they were four years ago," she acknowledged. Regarding the negotiations, Niubó considers that they have "overcome the remuneration issue" and explained that the unions are asking for more staffing and resources.

During the minister's interview, the severe blow to Spain in the PISA tests was revealed, with an alarming drop in the level of reading comprehension. Faced with this fact, Niubó assured that she is "in favor of bringing back mandatory readings" and explained that Catalonia has the power to do so "but consensus is needed." In this sense, she linked the loss of reading comprehension to the use of social networks where "very short texts are read."

This Tuesday, teachers launched a new day of mobilizations throughout Catalonia, coinciding with a key day for the sector: the first day of this 2026/27 school year. USTEC—the majority union—and the CGT met on Thursday, September 3, with the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, but, upon leaving the meeting, they confirmed that no agreement had been reached. "They have not made us a proposal for scheduling these meetings where we can negotiate [...], therefore, we invite the entire collective to join the strike," assured the spokesperson for USTEC, Iolanda Segura.

Thus, all teaching and support staff in educational centers in Catalonia are called to strike, and among the teachers' demands, they ask that educational funding be increased to 6% of GDP, that more professionals be incorporated to attend to inclusive schooling, and a reduction in class sizes. They also ask to protect Catalan as a vehicular and welcoming language in the classrooms, and to adapt educational centers to climate change and high temperatures, among others.

However, the strike is taking place with the PISA tests as a backdrop, since this same Tuesday the qualifications have also been released following the "technical error" that will prevent this year's results for Catalonia from being comparable with those of the other analyzed territories. In fact, the error will also not allow for observing whether the educational policies promoted since 2022 have worked.

Call to stop the strikes

Various political representatives of the Generalitat government have asked teachers to stop the strikes. On the eve of the start-of-school educational strike, Salvador Illa asked the striking unions for a "parenthesis". It is, in fact, the same demand made by the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, who has proposed calling off the strike to be able to move forward "with serenity and a constructive spirit".

In this line, Niubó also assured that her department has put on the table for the unions "a work agenda" to address issues and to "maintain a fluid dialogue throughout the year", and insisted that she shares with the unions "their demands" to achieve the best public education for the country's students.

Furthermore, Illa also announced this Monday that in the coming weeks a plan will be proposed to air-condition all schools in Catalonia. "We will explain to the public where we stand and what we will do to resolve the situation," he said.

Educational reinforcements

The Government will face the start of the school year with a reinforcement of the staff of 1,830 positions —1,103 teachers and 500 new reception classroom positions—. Thus, the public education system in Catalonia will have a total of 94,422 education professionals, made up of 85,052 teachers, 4,564 educational support staff positions, and 4,806 administration and service staff positions.