German Chancellor Scholz’s wife resigns from ministerial role

BERLIN (AA) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s wife Britta Ernst resigned on Monday from her ministerial role in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

The experienced politician’s unexpected resignation as educution minister came after a dispute within her own party over her proposal to deal with the shortage of teachers, public broadcaster RBB reported.

Ernst, a Social Democrat politician, was the education minister of Brandenburg state since September 2017. Earlier, she served as the education minister of northern state of Schleswig-Holstein between 2014 and 2017.

Brandenburg’s state premier Dietmar Woidke accepted the resignation and thanked Ernst for her work as minister. He said she had carried out the office in difficult times "with vision and a steady hand."