The government of the city of Buenos Aires announced this Monday a tightening of the conditions imposed on underage students to be considered “regular students”a requirement directly linked to the payment of certain subsidies for households in a situation of poverty and indigence provided for in the social program Buenos Aires Citizenship.
This program establishes the payment of an additional amount for each minor member of the household who is in school, which will be discharged in the event that irregularities or infractions related to the new order are detected, the Ministry of Education reported in a statement. Buenos Aires
“To be a regular student, students must attend a minimum of 85% of the effective days of classes during the school year each bimester, according to the dates established in the educational agenda. Likewise, they may not have more than 25 unjustified absences throughout the year,” the statement said.
It adds that “those who lose their regular student status may recover it after having attended a minimum of 85% of effective days of classes in the following two-month period and once they have been able to address the contents taught in their absence.”
“The student who loses regular status throughout the two-month period must continue attending classes, that is, the condition of free student ceases to exist due to non-attendance and the student always retains his enrollment,” he adds.
The official statementl does not clarify how much money that “additional amount” is equivalent to that families whose children are no longer considered “regular students” may lose, nor the number of beneficiaries of that system.
However, sources from the Buenos Aires administration reported that the economic aid program, which is around $15,000 and reaches 41,669 families, establishes an amount as an additional component for each child under 18 who is in school of $5,256 per poor household and $7,884.50 per indigent household, assistance that 23,686 students currently receive.
“Ciudadanía Porteña is a direct income transfer program for households living in poverty and indigence that reside in the City of Buenos Aires. The holders of the benefit assume co-responsibilities, among which is ensuring the schooling of those under 18 years of age. For this reason, the program establishes an additional amount for each minor member of the household who is in school,” says the official report.
It points out that in cases “where an irregularity occurs, teams from the Ministry of Development will contact the family to understand the situation and try to get the minor to resume their studies. At the same time, teams from the Buenos Aires educational portfolio will contact school to work on new opportunities in the classroom,” she adds.
And furthermore, “in the event that after three months, with a new payroll crossing, the situation has not been regularized, the additional component will be canceled, always with the possibility that the student regularize his school situation and this enables the family to recover that amount,” the statement said.
