Overview
- Regional officials say a procedural error led to the exclusion of 23.2% of the 2,545 Catalan students originally picked for the OECD PISA sample, far above the OECD 5% limit and enough to make the sample non-representative.
- President Salvador Illa publicly reaffirmed his support for Consellera Esther Niubó and rejected calls for her immediate dismissal, stressing the need to clarify why the error happened.
- Niubó is scheduled to appear before a parliamentary commission to explain the incident and the Generalitat has opened diligencias informativas and set up a coordination commission to prevent a repeat.
- The Catalan scores will still be published and included in Spain’s national PISA report due in September but officials warn the results cannot be compared with other regions, countries, or past Catalan editions.
- Opposition parties have demanded political responsibility and school leaders fear blame for selection decisions, deepening strains with the education department and raising the risk of renewed unrest at the start of the school year.