Ministry of Education decides to keep 5 thousand scholarships under the Beca 18 program after criticism

Education Minister Rosendo Serna said this Thursday that the number of places for the program will remain at 5,000. Scholarship 18 after evaluating the case. And this despite the fact that the day before he advocated the reduction of vacancies.

“We ratify youth support through our management policy and the policies of the current government. For this reason, we have decided to keep 5,000 scholarships for the program. Scholarship 18i.e. Pronabec in agreement with the Ministry of Education, after the case has been evaluated, this will allow to reassure parents, students and clarify some comments and misrepresentations or, in other cases, some statements that, without having real knowledge of what is happening, on this was indicated,” he said at a press conference.

Secondly, Rosendo Serna He assured that the initiative on free admission to universities, which was sent to Congress, is planned to be implemented by 2023. 5 thousand scholarships, in 2024 and 2025 with 19 thousand scholarships. However, he stressed that this is meant as a focus on young people living in poverty and extreme poverty.

“We must ensure that Beca 18 reaches young people living in extreme poverty who cannot continue to pursue higher education,” he added.

The day before, the head of Minedu defended himself in an interview PTR reduction of vacancies for Beca 18, because it meets the bill for free admission to universities. Serna indicated that if the initiative is approved, the role currently played by Pronabek will need to be revisited to match the proposal.

Congress asks for clarification

Congresswoman Norma Yarrow of the Avanza País faction sent a letter to Education Minister Rosendo Cerna asking for an explanation for the Beca 18 budget cuts.

“I ask for a report containing the technical and legal basis by which your sector, through Pronabec, will reduce the number of Beca 18 vacancies from 5,000 to 1,194 for the next year, which will affect the number of students classified as poor or extreme poverty,” the official reads. letter.

In summary, the legislator states that the measure to cut S/76 million in next year’s program budget will harm more than 400,000 young people.

For his part, Congressman Alex Paredes of the Arbitration Bloc confirmed that he is considering subpoenaing Minister Rosendo Serna to Congress to answer the case.

“Of course, through the education commission, we estimate that the minister will have to appear next week to explain this decision to reduce the number of scholarships,” the parliamentarian said.