The polemic that erupted after budget cuts to daycares has several angles. On one hand, the affectations: a 50% budget cut ; 9,399 daycares affected , and 327,000 children at risk of losing the service.
On the other hand, irregularities were found in the management of the program, an argument that has been used by the federal government to justify the cuts. According to information from the Federal Superior Auditor in 2012 , the situation didn't seem positive; the institution found irregularities for MXN $1,089 million ; in 2016 , they found irregularities for MXN $69 million , which represented less than 2% of the total resources.
Today, EL UNIVERSAL presents another angle. According to the Coneval , 94% of the beneficiaries consider that the daycares contribute to the improvement of their quality of life because they could keep their job and access services for the care and development of their children ; between 96% and 98% saw an improvement of their child's language, social abilities , and motor development .
In short, the program is widely backed by its users but questioned by the Federal Superior Audito r, and misunderstood by the federal government ?
Those who support the budget cut are few. In the Senate , all the benches, including Morena , the governing party, got together to ask the Finance Ministry to allocate the same budget as in 2018 while a new model is implemented.
The government explained that the resources won't be granted to the daycares but to the beneficiaries . If the intention is to maintain the program while using another scheme, there should have been an announcement to prevent inconveniences . Nevertheless, a pause in 2019, as proposed by the Senate , seems to be a reasonable solution.
Authorities should keep in mind that those affected are the ones in need : low-income single mothers and those who decided to train in order to offer daycare services at their homes or in other spaces and make a living through this.
No one is asking for impunity . All the irregularities have to be solved through the law . It's useless to denounce them if no sanctions are applied.
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