The opposition parties to the Govern in the Parlament have demanded the resignation of the Minister of Education and Vocational Training of the Generalitat, Esther Niubó, following the error detected in the sample of the Pisa 2025 tests, in which the percentage of exempt students exceeded the maximum limit set as recommended by the OECD.
Junts, PP, Vox, CUP, and AC have made this request during the Education and Vocational Training Commission held this Monday in the Catalan Chamber, after the minister's appearance. Niubó has defended that the mistake in Pisa 2025 is mainly due to a technical aspect arising from the incorrect application of the exemption rate, has explained that the causes are being analyzed in detail, and has reiterated that "if there are responsibilities, these will be thoroughly investigated."
In her speech, the Junts deputy in the Parlament Anna Erra has assured that the Department was aware of the error since March and that it was not made public until last Friday; she has asked the minister "why it was hidden," and has argued that Niubó is not prepared to lead the Ministry, urging her to leave the position.
The PP deputy Cristian Escribano has criticized that "one must have guts to use teachers as human shields to cover up the embarrassments"; he has reiterated that the Department knew about the incident since March and kept it hidden; and has emphasized that Niubó must resign, adding that the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, who held the portfolio during her absence, should also take responsibility.
Accuse the Department of hiding information
Manuel Jesús Acosta (Vox) has insisted that the minister should have submitted her resignation this Monday, on her own initiative, and has accused her of lack of diligence and of having concealed the situation. Furthermore, he has questioned whether this error "is not a strategy of the Department to prevent the release of reading comprehension, science, and mathematics results that appear to be bad or very bad."
The CUP deputy Maria Pilar Castillejo has reproached that the information was withheld, has emphasized that the Generalitat was ultimately responsible for ensuring the correct application of the test in Catalonia, and has reminded that her group had already demanded Niubó's resignation on other occasions because "she has been dragging the problems of the educational community without providing a solution."
On behalf of AC, Rosa Maria Soberana has defended that leaving out 23% of the Pisa sample cannot be considered a simple technical error, but rather a decision that excludes 1 in every 4 students from the exam; she has warned that, due to this failure, Catalunya will be without data for 6 years to know if its results improve or worsen, and has concluded: "When a government has lost confidence in such an important area as education, what corresponds is to resign."
Debate on political responsibility
For her part, the republican Irene Aragonès has emphasized that ERC will not allow the responsibility to be shifted to the management teams of the centers, has asked who will assume the political responsibility of the case and has denounced that what happened evidences a failure in transparency, after 4 months of silence: "In March, the Ministry informs them that there is an incident serious enough to call into question the validity of the Catalan sample. It is a formal warning."
The president of the Comuns in the Parlament, Jéssica Albiach, has pointed out that 4 months since that warning should have been enough to clarify what has failed; she has demanded that the Departament detail what role the Educational Inspection played in the execution of the test, as well as the evaluating company and the different supervisory bodies; and has defended the need to "provide data and assume responsibilities."
In the socialist reply, the PSC deputy Gisela Navarro has responded to the other groups that, if there had been an intention to hide information, the consellera would not have attended the Commission this Monday to give explanations; she has reiterated that Niubó has the party's support; and has emphasized that the Govern, once the incident was detected, has acted to prevent it from happening again in the future: "That is not escaping responsibilities, that is assuming them."