The Minkai civil association launched a new bicycle donation campaign. The purpose of the program is for Tucumán and Catamarca students in vulnerable situations to be able to travel to their educational establishments. Find out how to help.
The civil organization Minkai is convinced that a bicycle can be the turning point between getting to school or not. With that premise, the association launched a new bike donation campaign that is expected to help dozens of students from rural communities in Tucumán and Catamarca. In 2023, 17 students managed to complete their studies thanks to the program, which currently has approximately 100 scholarship holders. There are three ways to help the cause: by donating your used bike; giving away a new bike or contributing money to the organization. If you are interested in providing some type of collaboration, access the form at this link.
The campaign’s press release observes that the 2022 national census showed that only five out of every ten young people in Tucumán managed to finish secondary school (six out of every ten in Catamarca). Faced with this situation, Minkai decided to get to work and obtained great results: that same year, 100% of the program’s scholarship recipients finished or continued the school year, 14% had perfect attendance and 75% achieved a maximum of six absences. in the year. In addition, two scholarship students were escorts, one managed to be a flag bearer and four were among the best averages.
“We believe that every pedal stroke can transform lives. Many young people walk several kilometers to be able to study, which is why we consider it key to provide a means of mobility in rural communities, where access to transportation is often limited. The idea of the campaign is to work so that students can be in the classrooms, school dropouts are reduced and that they finally manage to finish their studies,” he says from the organization’s communication area.
The Minkai scholarship program is developed in four rural communities in Tucumán: Ampata, Palomino and Niogasta (all belonging to the department of Simoca) and Monte Grande (Famaillá). The initiative is also developed in Catamarca, precisely in Famatanca (Santa María).
Minkai was born as an organization in 2018, from the initiative of a group of students from a school in the northern area of Buenos Aires, who traveled to Palomino in Tucumán to develop a solidarity activity within the scope of a school project. Since that moment, the association focuses on promoting access to education and improving educational quality in rural contexts. How? Through scholarship programs for secondary and higher level students, and a series of training workshops for the different levels of educational institutions.
After a successful 2022, 2023 also showed encouraging numbers: the educational trajectory of approximately 100 rural students is monitored, of which 13 managed to graduate from secondary level and four from higher level. In addition, more than 600 people participated in the training workshops and discussions.
“Although access to education is a universal basic human right, in our country it has a great systemic deficiency that escalates over the years. Only 16 out of every 100 young people who begin their secondary studies complete them. Our objective is to reverse this reality and continue accompanying them so that each student can continue studying,” concludes Minkai’s document.
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