The Department of Education will have to re-allocate teaching positions for the next academic year due to "incidents."

BarcelonaLess than two months before the start of the school year, the Department of Education has halted the allocation of teaching positions for the next academic year, which was due to close this week, and has admitted that it will have to start the process from scratch. According to the announcement, The Vanguard As ARA has been able to confirm, the reason behind this decision is that there has been a "detection of unjustified incidents" that have caused a pool of positions that were supposed to be awarded to civil servants to be assigned to temporary staff.

The stoppage caused by this error will require a redo of the entire allocation process, which will not be completed until at least next week. This year, there were at least 50,000 positions at stake. Educació has not yet specified the extent of the impact of the incident, although everything indicates that hundreds of teachers will be affected because it has also been identified that hundreds of positions have not entered the list of available positions for distribution.

For the moment, the regional ministry has opened an information file to determine why the instructions given were not followed, what the specific problem was, and whether there is anyone responsible who can be held accountable. The department has apologized to those affected and requested the urgent appearance of the Minister, Esther Niubó, in Parliament for next Tuesday. The department has also informed the political parties, invited the Ombudsman to participate in the new transparency award process, and has urgently summoned the unions.

The effort falls on the departments.

Sources from the central board of directors of public schools have lamented the situation, as they still do not know the staff required to prepare the new school year: schedules, tutoring, and the various specificities of each employee, such as whether there are teachers who want a reduction in hours that must be adjusted with the rest of the staff at the school. "We will try to respond by making an additional effort that is not our responsibility, but either we get involved or the situation enters a crisis," assure the same sources consulted by ARA.

Thus, the directors of public schools will have to work in August once the department rectifies the problem, as they cannot report to September 1st without having made prior planning less than a week before the start of the school year. The central board of directors believes it is highly unlikely that the department will delay the start of the school year to give them more time to organize, although they would welcome this measure. They explain that they recognize that the situation that Education has had to manage for the next academic year is "extraordinary," and they understand that everyone can make mistakes, but they warn that this Friday's situation will have a "very serious impact" on the schools.

More time for the new academic year

USTEC was the first to react, describing this incident as "the most serious situation experienced in the Department of Education in recent times." It has therefore requested that the start of the school year be delayed until September 12th in order to "compensate" those affected and the departments, which lack the necessary staff. It did so in a statement after meeting with the heads of the Department of Education, demanding accountability for this "negligent" management.

According to the union, the profile positions not filled in the initial resolution were to be converted to regular positions, which would be approximately 878, but "instructions were given that instead of becoming regular positions, they would remain as profiled positions." "This is a very serious matter that requires immediate accountability and the dismissal of those responsible," the organization demands. According to USTEC, approximately 57,000 people were waiting to find out their job titles for September. "[This] could have a domino effect and affect many positions," they claim, arguing that the impact could be felt across all positions.

Ignasi Fernández, general secretary of the ASPEPC-SPS secondary school teachers' union, explained to ARA that the organization has also requested a delay in the start of the school year in light of this new "disarray." "There are thousands of colleagues waiting again to see what happens; it's a disaster," criticized Fernández, who noted that the errors in filling positions are "continuous." Given this situation, and also as the union's lawyer, he has already announced that they will explore all possibilities to see if liability can be established through legal means.