The chair of the Institute for Education, Claudine Cassar, has resigned just a year after her appointment, this newspaper has learnt.

Ms Cassar, who was appointed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, handed in her resignation after informing the board and meeting with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

Ms Cassar, an entrepreneur in the digital media industry, confirmed that she had submitted her resignation. Asked what made her step down so soon after her appointment, Ms Cassar at first would not elaborate, saying only she had discussed the matter with the minister.

When asked whether she had clashed with the institute’s CEO, Joanna Grima, who was appointed by Mr Bartolo, Ms Cassar said that although there were differences in any institution, the real reason was that she was too busy to find time to dedicate to the institute.

“The institute needs a lot of time and hands-on work so it can move forward. I’m an extremely busy person, and I felt it would be better if there were someone who has enough time,” she said.

A board member, however, put it differently: “The institute never really took off, and the lack of chemistry between the chairwoman and the CEO did not really help.”

“The minister [Evarist Bartolo] was made aware of the problems and was many times called to intervene to solve problems related to the management of the institute. It seems Ms Cassar had had enough of the ministry dragging its feet,” a government-appointed board member said.

The Education Ministry confirmed Ms Cassar’s departure. “No particular reason was mentioned in the resignation letter”, a spokeswoman for Mr Bartolo said with regard to the motive.

A request to publish Ms Cassar’s resignation letter was rejected by the ministry. “It is not standard practice to give you a copy of this letter, the ministry spokeswoman said.

The Institute for Education was set up two years ago to provide various means of continuing professional development for teachers and educators.

Ms Cassar is the second high-profile person under the wings of the Education Ministry to submit her resignation in the space of four months.

Philip Rizzo stepped down as CEO of the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools last December. He accused Mr Bartolo of trying to dissuade him from reporting to the authorities cases of fraud and corruption by Edward Caruana, whom the minister recruited on a person-of-trust basis.

Mr Bartolo strongly denied the accusation. Mr Rizzo sent the police a 200-page document to back up his allegations. The police are investigating.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com