Destroyed school. Photo: Courtesy.
With the aim of promoting accountability of public resources allocated to education at the municipal level, the More Transparency campaign of Together for Education urges citizens to enter the district files to find out how much money their community receives for infrastructure and school meals and require mayors to hold public hearings to render accounts.
Óscar Charotti, executive director of Together for Education, explained that Law 5590/16 obliges municipalities to convene public hearings no later than February 15 of each year to render accounts on the application and execution of the items of the National Fund for Public Investment and Development (phonacide) related to investments in infrastructure and school feeding.
However, many municipalities do not meet these requirementsAs Faraón Galeano, director of the 7025 Ngalec Qom elementary school in Benjamín Aceval, points out: “In 2020, they only gave us the kit once; in 2021 and 2022 they did not deliver school lunch.”
“In 2019, the municipality of Benjamín Aceval did not comply with the legal requirements and, consequently, in 2020 it did not receive the disbursement from Fonacide. In that period, Benjamín Aceval needed 39 classrooms and none were built. In addition, he had to feed 1,926 students, but only 337 students received school meals, ”lamented the executive director of Together for Education.
“In 2021, the mayor of Benjamín Aceval executed only 4% in infrastructure, faced with a need to build 13 bathrooms, only one bathroom was built. While the funds for school feeding had a 0% execution, that is, the children were left without food, ”he said.
In this sense, Mariano Bareiro of the Federation of Neighborhood Entities of Paraguay (FEDEM) said: “The accountability of the mayors to the citizens is the most powerful weapon for citizen participation, transparency and the fight against corruption ”, he emphasized.
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Another case that did not render accounts to the citizens either is the mayor of Lima in the department of San Pedro, who in 2021 executed only 44% of the amount allocated for educational infrastructure, building just 3 classrooms of the 20 classrooms that were required. “In this case, we also realize the insufficiency of resources, since despite having executed 71% of the amount assigned to school meals, out of 1,751 students, only 114 children received food,” Charotti emphasizes.
To find out more details and complete information on these exposed cases or from other municipalities, the District Files are available, as part of the campaign More Transparencydriven Together for Education and FEDEM. www.observatorio.org.py/ficha-
About Together for Education
It is a non-profit organization, independent of any government, that does not receive public money and is financed with contributions from businessmen committed to the country and with an inclusive and comprehensive public education that makes possible coexistence in solidarity values and that helps to respond the challenges of the country and its insertion in the world.
Likewise, Together for Education, through the Citizen Educational Observatoryprovides information on Fonacide’s investment and the infrastructure and equipment requirements in the 255 municipalities of the country. People can enter the Webchoose the district they want and find out in detail how much money the municipality receives from Fonacide and what the needs are.
