The national government launched an educational voucher program in March to help families who send their children to private schools cover part of the fee. The initiative will last for three months – May, June and July – and the Executive indicated that there will not be an extension, at least for now.
The total budget allocated, which corresponds to the payment of the April fee, is $7,629,145,224.61. Regarding the average monthly amount of the benefit by province, according to estimates from the educational portfolio, the list is headed by San Luis, with $24,319.13; Corrientes, with $23,211.87, and Tierra del Fuego, with $22,459.47. They are followed by Chubut ($19,634.91); La Rioja ($17,324.03); La Pampa ($16,202.95) and Río Negro ($16,515.54).
Catamarca ($6,571.33); Jujuy ($6,484.98); Misiones ($6,309.77) and Entre Ríos ($5,415.84) were the provinces whose average monthly amount was lower.
On the other hand, following the data collected, the average age of the benefited students is 10 years, with the exception of Córdoba, Corrientes, La Pampa, La Rioja, Neuquén, Salta, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego, Tucumán, which was 11 years old.
To know the scope of the measure, according to sources from the Ministry of Human Capital and the Ministry of Education:
-47.80% of the vouchers were destined for students in the province of Buenos Aires.
-The average age of the students who received the educational voucher was 10 and 11 years old.
-The largest number of vouchers were received by primary level students. Specifically, there were 334,158 of that group out of 716,454.
-The highest average monthly amount was received by San Luis, with $24,319 per student; while the one that received the least was Entre Ríos, with $5,415.
They ask to expand the number of schools that receive the benefit
The entities that represent private schools requested the Government days ago to expand the scope of the Educational Vouchers program to all establishments that are not publicly managed.
“We consider that the bases have already been established to determine the degree of execution of the assigned budget, so it is the right time to reconsider the extension of the program,” expressed the National Board of Private Education (JUNEP) and the Association of Private Institutes of Buenos Aires (AIEPBA) in the note they sent to the Ministry of Education.
According to what they stated, the objective is for the program to also reach students from schools that receive less than 75% of state subsidy or even benefit those that do not receive any type of subsidy. From the private educational field they seek to eliminate this requirement so that all students who need it can apply.
Given this situation, according to the latest report presented in Congress by the Chief of Staff, the portfolio headed by Sandra Pettovello explained: “The Educational Vouchers program is not a subsidy to privately managed schools, but rather financial aid for three months for families. This approach is chosen because otherwise it would require vacancies that are not available in the state system.” In addition, they ruled out the possibility of expanding the program: “At the moment there are no plans to carry out a second phase.”
Source: El Entre Ríos
