According to the Ministry of Finance, in the 11 years of Fonacide, from 2011 to 2022, USD 615 million (78%) to the municipalities and USD 169 million (22%) to the governorates. The sum totals USD 794 million.
According to the budget, the distribution of said amount should be given as follows: 50% (USD 397 million) for school and college infrastructure, 30% (USD 238.2 million) for school meals and 20% (USD 158.8 million) for furniture for educational institutions.
Between infrastructure and equipment, the money available was USD 555.8 million, including only Fonacide (National Fund for Public Investment and Excellence), that is, without counting on genuine MEC resources.
“In 11 years of Fonacide, 794 million dollars were given. Where did all that money go?” wondered the economist Pablo Herken, who presented the data provided by the Ministry of Finance itself.
Related note: MEC reports that 12,000 classrooms are at risk of collapse
However, the conditions of many schools are lamentable. In these five years of government, of the 8,500 public schools in the country, only 2,500 were refurbishedof which 1,683 were financed with resources from the MEC and the rest with money from the municipalities.
To this is added that 12,000 classrooms are about to collapse and some 3,000 toilets are in a terrible state. In both cases, they have absolute priority for the approval of requests for spare parts, as revealed by the Vice Minister of Education, Alcira Sosa.
For this emergency requires 14 million dollars, according to the calculation of the authorities. Meanwhile, neither the classrooms nor the toilets are used.
Also read: Window molding collapses in a school in the capital
To fine-tune all the country’s institutions, we need 410 million dollars, money that you do not have and that will imply a credit.
The entrance Schools are falling apart, despite the money from Fonacide: What was done with the money? was first published on newspaper TODAY.
