Mexico.- The cancellation of the Full-Time Schools Program leaves more than 3 million 600 thousand children exposed to social riskssuch as the recruitment of organized crime, sexual and physical abuse and domestic violence, according to what civil organizations and academics have denounced.
Juan Martín Pérez García, regional coordinator of Weaving Childhood Networks in Latin America and the Caribbeanconsidered for Debate that this decision goes against the poorest children and women, and is in violation of the best interests of the childin addition to unconstitutional.
For Maelvi Muñoz, a teacher in education and knowledge management, the announcement of the cancellation of the program is “a punishment to the beneficiaries for something for which they are not responsible.”
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In Sinaloa, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya has spoken out with the intention of taking responsibility for this program from the state coffers so that it does not disappear in the region.
Organized crime
On February 28, the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) announced the elimination of the program. The main argument, as has happened with other programs that have disappeared in the López Obrador administration, is that the model lent itself to corrupt practices.
This program has been in operation since 2007. and toasted six to eight hour shifts for minors.
Juan Martín Pérez García elaborated that the characteristics of these schools is that they aree located in the poorest or most violent areas of the country, even, he said, half of these educational centers were in areas with high rates of violence, precisely as a protective factor.
“Which means now that boys and girls, at 12:30 p.m. in primary school, 1:40 p.m. in secondary school, are left alone until their working mother returns at 7 or 8 p.m. All those hours are representing risks at home, abuse of other adults that can translate into early pregnancies, recruitment of criminals, among others, “she detailed.
No evidence: Munoz
In turn, he criticized that this act is a continuation of what the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has done with the closure of childcare centers, which impacted the poorest working mothers, and more than 300,000 children from 0 to 4 years in indigenous communities and on the outskirts of cities.
For Muñoz Álvarez, the cancellation of this benefit It is a decision without support in an evaluation of the program. “They have not shown data. Before making such a decision, the first thing should have been to go back to the objectives, identify what works and what does not, make political improvements to audit the resources, ”he opined.
In that sense, he added that the program had other benefits related, for example, to health issues, since in many cases the minors ate at school, which could represent their only daily meal, or at least the most complete.
Maelvi Muñoz, also an Iteso academic, explained to Debate that an economic impact can be foreseen, because many mothers saw in the model the possibility of working and leaving their children in a safe environment, which has disappeared.
“Now they must stop working or entrust their children to someone else. Or, in the worst case scenario, they will be left adrift on the street, with the possibility that they will end up being recruited by organized crime.
According to the researcher, another worrying aspect is that with the disappearance of full-time schools, it will become more difficult for low-income families to access extracurricular knowledge, which will only be available to those who live in more economically favored environments.
state government
Juan Martín Pérez García, regional coordinator of Tejiendo Redes Infancia, considered for Debate that the total elimination of this program violates the Constitution, since, according to the first article, a right already granted cannot be removed, it must be progressive and the fourth article establishes the best interests of children.
Pérez García believed that state governments could be an option and have even already expressed themselves in this regard, such as Sinaloa, which hopes to take this program under its command. “This is going to immediately hit them with many negative safety indicators, emergency calls, injuries, the health system, school dropouts,” he mentioned.
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The program should be maintained as a federal initiative, Muñoz Álvarez said, since he considered that not all entities can invest the same resources, otherwise, inequalities in access to opportunities would be accentuated.
The Data
Article 4
Boys and girls have the right to live in well-being, and to satisfy their needs for food, health, education and healthy recreation for their comprehensive development and participation. All actions and measures adopted must serve your best interests.
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