The Ministry of Education rules out postponing the start of the school year and assumes that the error in allocating places will affect 3,000 teachers.

BarcelonaThe 2025-26 school year will start normally. This was assured by the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio. The head of the department stated that after the error that has invalidated the allocation of 57,000 places The teaching staff is concerned about "the intervention of a person who made a unilateral decision" that "violated regulations." Someone ignored the department's resolutions and caused "serious incidents": 800 positions that should have been filled by civil servants were instead reserved for temporary teachers. Following complaints from some teachers, the Education Department halted the process and will announce the new assignments early next week after working all weekend to resolve the situation. In total, some 3,000 teachers out of 57,000 candidates will see their assignments change. However, according to Niubó, this will be for the better: "Given the exclusion of these 800 positions, it will improve."

The Department of Education has opened an information file to determine whether the "indications" they currently have are confirmed and whether this situation is due to the actions of a person who duly violated regulations. "We will investigate all responsibilities," announced Niubó, who later, in another interview on Rac1, emphasized that she has "indications" as to who that person may be. If the investigation ultimately confirms that person's involvement in the "deliberate, voluntary, and conscious" decision that led to the error in the allocation of places, she will "obviously" be dismissed. In this case, the minister made it clear that this was not a "computer error" and that the "credibility" of the Catalan education system "cannot depend on decisions made by individuals who violate regulations."

The USTEC union requested that the start of the school year be postponed to September 12 in order to "compensate" those affected and the administrations, who do not have the necessary staff to plan the new school year. In response to this request, Niubó has been emphatic: the school year will begin on September 8th for preschool, primary, and secondary school students: "We cannot allow the impact we are taking on as a department to cause further harm to families."

The head of the department will appear before the Catalan Parliament on Tuesday to give explanations, and a central board meeting has already been convened for Friday.