One of the changes in the implementation of the School Feeding Program, PAE, was to guarantee its implementation from the first day of classes, for which a budget of $1.12 billion was assigned.
(In 2020, 476 thousand students did not benefit from the PAE).
Therefore, the Certified Secretaries of Education had to carry out administrative processes to guarantee the right to food for children and adolescents. But nevertheless, the Comptroller General of the Republic, in its report on the PAE, indicated that 25 of these entities did not comply with these requirements. This corresponds to 40.9% of the secretariats that started the school calendar on January 17 and 24.
These included entities from the departments of Chocó, Caquetá, Cesar, Caldas, Santander, Huila, Magdalena, Sucre and Antioquia.
The Comptroller’s Office is concerned that eight secretariats (Caldas, Caquetá, Chocó, Huila, Neiva, Piedecuesta, Pitalito, Sucre) do not have the required guidelines to comply with the feeding of students. Some secretariats have not even reported their progress in hiring. In the case of Piedecuesta, this service will be postponed until the third week of February, leaving the students without their food portion during this time.
(PAE beneficiary students received donkey and horse meat).
Huila and Neiva already have their complete administrative process, however, they have not started the program.
Thus, the Comptroller’s Office, with a cut to January 2022, has confirmed and issued 35 rulings, in the second instance, for fiscal responsibility against Territorial Entities and PAE Operators in 6 departments, 17 municipalities and an entity of the national order for a value of $7,901 million.
The actions to be judged include the improper management of program accounts, suspension or cancellation of service and payment of higher fees in relation to the number of deliveries.. As well as the delivery of food without templates or records, which led to duplication in portions.
The control entity also denounced the existence of incomplete supplies, “without following the hygiene or refrigeration minutes”, he added.
In addition to irregularities in contracts, unexecuted values and payments for non-enrolled students. Due to these rulings, the Comptroller’s Office has obtained the compensation of public assets for $1,710 million in 35 processes.
Now, regarding current inquiries and investigations, the control entity assured that it is carrying out 144 processes for more than $42,000 million.
RENDITION OF ACCOUNTS OF 2021
During 2021, 13 Certified Secretaries of Education presented the greatest breaches in the implementation of the PAE, with failures in quality, logistics and coverage.
These entities were Amazonas, Popayán, Putumayo, Pitalito, Nariño, Magdalena, Cauca, Córdoba, Chocó, Neiva, Ibagué, Villavicencio and Vaupés.
The Comptroller found that the majority did not provide the food service until the second semester of the year, thus affecting the course of the students’ meals at home and also in person.
Among the faults found, The Comptroller’s Office found that in the case of Vaupés, the indigenous population was violated, and 601 portions were pending delivery.
However, Amazonas was one of the territorial entities with the most problems and irregularities. He had change of three secretaries of education, so he delayed the course of the PAE.
In addition, the Comptroller’s Office described the alleged threats to the departmental education secretary for not accessing illegalities in the hiring process by a program operator as a reason for criminal investigation.
Regarding the coverage, in general, of the program, the control entity indicated that it was 74.4%, benefiting 5,817,944 children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years of age. However, 2,001,224 students need to receive their portions.
JULIANA PEÑA
