Uncertainty in Beca 18: Comptroller's Office warns of lack of budget and delays in Pronabec

He Scholarship 18 programthe country’s main educational inclusion mechanism, is at risk of not being executed. The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) issued a recent ex officio guidance report warning of serious irregularities that put the continuity of the 2026 call at risk, affecting the expectations of more than 98 thousand applicants with limited economic resources and high academic performance.

The parliamentarian, as is customary, made obscene gestures with her finger, did not respect authority and now the police officers who intervened are suffering retaliation.

The document indicates that the National Scholarship and Educational Credit Program (Pronabec) failed to publish the official list of preselected candidates, a step that had to be completed on December 22, 2025. Although the new management of the institution promised to correct the delay during the month of January, to date there is no official publication date. According to the Comptroller’s Office, this misinformation scenario is “atypical” and directly affects the predictability and transparency of the national contest.

The underlying problem lies in the absence of a firm budget item. Although the State’s initial promise was to finance 38,000 new scholarships for this year, José Jerí’s government has indicated that this figure lacks real financial support. Currently, the approved budget barely has 50 million soles, an amount that would only be enough to cover about 2,000 vacancies, very far from the originally announced goal.

Faced with this problem, the Comptroller’s Office has recommended that the Ministry of Education (Minedu) adopt urgent actions to ensure the 793 million soles necessary for the sustainability of the program. Discontent has been reported among young applicants, who see their entry into universities and institutes in danger in the 2026-I cycle.

In response to this crisis, groups such as the National Youth Network (RENAJUV) and the National Scholarship Front have called for a large mobilization this Friday, January 30, in front of the headquarters of the Congress of the Republic. The students demand that the Legislature and the Executive guarantee the promised resources, warning that they will not allow access to higher education to be cut for the most vulnerable populations in the country.