“From today, November 13th, until December 2nd, mothers, fathers and legal guardians (…) can go to banking institutions in capital cities without restrictions on card cancellation,” confirmed the Ministry of Education on its social networks.
In order to make the payment of the bonus of 200 bolivianos (about 30 dollars) effective, around 57 financial institutions throughout the country are still authorized, it said.
Until last Friday, in the nine departmental capitals and in El Alto, a schedule was in effect based on the completion of the identity card of the guardian, father or mother of the family to put this fee into effect.
According to the source, since the disbursement of this incentive, aimed at strengthening persistence and promotion in the education system, began on October 9 to November 12, one million 828 thousand 866 schoolchildren from the nine departments have received this benefit.
Authorities added that this figure represents 78 percent of the two million 340,000 regular, alternative and special education students in public and congressional schools in the country targeted for this course.
Of the total number of students who will receive the bonus this year, according to official information, the majority of 649,865 students are concentrated in the Santa Cruz department.
La Paz has 567,462 students, followed by Cochabamba (432,783), Potosí (183,889), Beni (127,954), Chuquisaca (117,825), Oruro (116,185), Tarija (113,000). 45) and Pando (30,992).
Between 2005 and 2006, seven out of ten school-age children dropped out of school. Therefore, redistribution of government revenue sought to promote enrollment, persistence, and completion of the instructional year.
According to the Ministry of Education, the school dropout rate in the country reached 1.83 percent in 2017, an indicator that fell to 1.46 percentage points in 2021, a declining trend that continued in 2022 with 1.16 points out of 100. The payment of this incentive represents a disbursement of 477 million bolivianos (almost 70 million dollars) by Banco Unión and 56 other financial institutions throughout the national territory.
npg/jpm