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

BarcelonaThe chaos generated by 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 fiasco, 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 places for temporary workers 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 wanted to apologize 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.

Monday at six thirty in the evening the new allocation of places And Niubó wanted to thank the department's professionals for their commitment to resolving the error within three days: "They worked against the clock and outside of normal hours. That's public service," she noted. She also explained that an internal investigation is underway to get to the bottom of the matter and determine who is responsible. In the appearance, as she had stated a few days ago, the minister ruled out modifying the calendar for the new school year.

Distrust in the new award

Some 200 teachers gathered alongside the minister's speech to demand her resignation. Whistles and protests were heard throughout the appearance inside 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 protesting groups, such as the USTEC union, have demanded explanations for the new job awards because they see potential "errors." Alba Ferran, of USTEC, warned that "temporary staff are still being awarded positions" in positions also applied for 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." She also noted that an investigation file has been opened to determine if other people are involved. "I'm not going to bury my head in the sand to cover up this incident," she stated.