The Federation of Associations of Parents of Students in Public Schools of La Rioja (Fapa Rioja) has warned that “44% of families using the school cafeteria service in La Rioja will have to pay between 56% and 67% more with he … new contract”. Last Tuesday the Government of La Rioja published the final award, two months after the provisional one and one week before the end of the school year, of the school cafeteria service in public schools in La Rioja. The plan has been confirmed and the Ministry of Education and Employment has Mediterránea de Catering and Servei d’Apats, two companies from the same Mediterránea group, for lots 1, 2, 4 and 5, while 3 is for Seral. As Diario La Rioja has learned, Ausolan, the only company that has tendered and has not obtained any award, is studying the possibility of presenting an appeal, currently evaluating the technical criteria that have ruled it out. If this occurs, this could further delay the implementation of the new contract that the regional Executive announced for last March, temporarily counting on Mediterránea de Catering after not renewing with Seunión and which has been extended by six months.
Lots 1, 2, 4 and 5 obtained by the Mediterránea group will offer menus for a unit price of 6.75 euros per day, while Seral will do so for 7.49 euros (without VAT) in six schools in Logroño, two of Lardero and those of Alberite, Murillo and Agoncillo. For this reason, Fapa Rioja warns that, “in the case of the schools in lot 3, the dining room expenses of 308 boys and girls will increase between 67.01% and 93.26%” and “all families will bear high costs.” increases in the price despite the announced aid”, which they consider “insufficient, since it is still the families who will have to endure the large increase in the price of school canteens.” For this reason, Fapa Rioja requests a co-payment system from Education, as happens in other autonomous communities, by which a maximum price is established to be paid by families from which it is the Administration that takes charge of the difference to be paid to the service contractor companies. This system, exemplified by Fapa Rioja, exists in Galicia and Asturias, where families do not pay more than 4.50 euros per child per day, while in La Rioja the prices reach 7.95 euros for lot 3 and 7.17 in the rest of the lots.
Fapa Rioja states that, according to the data of the new aid announced by Education, for the group of families benefiting from Type 1 aid (with less than 6,200 euros of per capita income) the price, once the new subsidies are applied, will increase. 10.89% compared to the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year in the school cafeterias of lots 1,2,4 and 5, those managed by Mediterránea, while in lot 3 the price will be increased by 67. 01%. This will occur in schools such as the CEIP General Espartero and the San Pío And Fapa Rioja exemplifies that a family from the CEIP Vuelo Madrid Manila in Logroño with three minors and with an income of 5,500 euros per capita will go from paying 83.40 euros per month to 139.20. On the other hand, in the case of families benefiting from Type 2 and 3 aid, the price, once the new subsidies are applied, will increase between 67.18% and 93.26%. As an example, a family from the CEIP Bretón de los Herreros de Logroño with two minors and with a per capita income of 6,500 euros will go from paying 119.60 euros per month to 231.20. And finally, families without any type of aid, which represent 1,379 diners daily this year, will pay between 56% and 73% more. If your school is the CEIP Eduardo González Gallarza de Lardero, you will go from paying 183 euros per month to 318.
Although Fapa Rioja values ”the effort in increasing aid”, it understands that “it is not enough to alleviate the increase in prices suffered by all families who use dining rooms”, which is why it requests “more forceful support” considering it “an essential service.” ».
#Argentina
