Niubó dismisses a senior education official for errors in the allocation of teaching positions.

BarcelonaThe chaos generated by the incidents in the allocation of teaching positions for the next school year has claimed its first victim in the Department of Education. Minister Esther Niubó, who appeared before Parliament on Tuesday to explain the case, announced the dismissal of the department's Deputy Director General of Staff, Provisions, and Payroll, Enric Trens. She accused him of "errors" in the allocation process. This forced the cancellation of the distribution of 57,000 jobs and affected 2,898 teachers."We are facing a serious and unacceptable act that affects the credibility of the Catalan education system," she lamented.

According to the minister, the dismissed civil servant "deliberately" reserved 878 positions for temporary staff that should have been awarded to civil servants. "It was not a human error, but the result of a conscious action and contrary to current regulations," she stated. In this regard, she apologized to "the entire educational community" and assured that she will not allow anyone to make decisions unilaterally and contrary to the resolutions of the Department of Education. "He did so without consulting the Director General, the General Secretary, or the minister," she said.

Niubó also pointed out that a specific resolution indicates that the positions outlined that had not been filled during the provisional allocation phase should be converted into ordinary positions and filled, first, by civil servants. Only if there were still vacancies could they be offered to temporary workers, but in a second phase. In this regard, the regional minister emphasized that this is a measure agreed upon with the unions and passed on to the regional services. The objective was to help stabilize staff and consolidate school teams. "You may like it more or less, but under no circumstances can a civil servant contradict it," she asserted.

The proposal was published at six-thirty in the evening on Monday. new allocation of places And Niubó wanted to thank the department's professionals for their commitment to resolving the error in three days: "They worked against the clock and outside of working hours. That's public service." She also defended that the new resolution "has no errors," despite the criticism received from some parliamentary groups, and that it will be studied.

The minister also assured that an internal investigation is underway to get to the bottom of the matter and determine the necessary responsibilities. unions, because during July professionals will be able to contact the centers and vice versa. "We do not want to cause further harm to the students and all their families," she concluded.

Some 200 teachers gathered alongside the minister's speech to demand her resignation, and whistles and protests were heard throughout the appearance inside the Parliament. Around 2:30 a.m., one of the protesters entered the chamber to address the minister directly, forcing a brief halt to the session.

In addition to demanding Niubó's dismissal, some of the protesters linked to the USTEC union demanded explanations for the new job awards, citing potential "errors." Alba Ferran of USTEC warned that "temporary staff are still being awarded positions" in positions also requested by civil servants. "We don't know the magnitude of the tragedy. We'll have to wait and see," Ferran noted.

Some political groups, such as the Popular Party and the CUP, have also expressed their discontent with the new award announced on Monday and have questioned whether only one person is involved. Along these lines, Esquerra (Republican Left) has accused the minister of using the dismissed deputy director as a "scapegoat" and the group has called for the resignation of the Director of Teaching Staff, Josep Maria Garcia Balda. For its part, Junts (Junt's Party) has asked Niubó to consider resigning.

In response, the Minister of Education has asserted that "there are no errors in the new allocation of positions" and that the department has resolved the problem "quickly and transparently." "I'm not going to bury my head in the sand to cover up this incident," she stated.