Esther Niubó defended on Wednesday in an interview on Catalan television 3Cat the need to increase the number of special education places in Catalonia. The Minister of Education and Vocational Training argued that by offering more options to these children with specific needs, the general demand of Catalan students could be alleviated. Although she clarified that the unmet requests for places do not exceed a thousand applications.
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The minister said that there are many families who want to take their children with specific educational needs to specialized centers and cannot do so due to lack of capacity. She referred to cases of students with special needs in ordinary centers who have not felt sufficiently well attended. This, despite the fact that this school year the offer has been expanded with 204 more places, equivalent to 80 groups, with an investment of 6.3 million euros.
Niubó stated that during the last decade the focus has been on inclusive schooling and guaranteeing equal opportunities. But she also believes that attention must be paid to “educational success, which has been neglected in recent years.” Therefore, she justifies that new consensuses are needed, “listening to everyone, including families,” on this issue.
She suggests that the debate is about deciding whether to expand existing special schools or create new ones. Although she has shown herself in favor of strengthening inclusive schooling with more specialized staff in ordinary schools in cases of students with milder needs.
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published on Tuesday the results of the PISA 2025 tests, in which Spain obtained the worst results in its history. The tests of Catalan students could not participate in this report due to a sampling error. Niubó regretted that this error “has damaged the credit and prestige of the department,” which replaced its secretary general and opened three disciplinary proceedings against institution officials.
Asked about the start of the school year, which began this Tuesday with a new teachers’ strike in eleven locations across the territory, the minister explained that the Assemblea Educativa de Catalunya, which includes representatives of the striking unions, will decide its demands on September 19. Niubó admitted that these are “complicated times” to lead the department, but that the ministry “is clear” about the educational system needed for the coming years.
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