Within the framework of the expansion of the Fair Prices program that the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa announced this Friday, Rodolfo de Vicenzi, president of the Confederation of Private Education Institutions (CAIEP), highlighted the entity’s support for this initiative and considered that “what is intended with this agreement is to provide predictability to avoid speculation.” “We are all going to work to ensure that it is fulfilled,” de Vicenzi emphasized.
“The agreement includes the school basket and the price of private schools throughout Argentina. The products in the basket are important, understanding that classes start in March and for parents it is a challenge,” Massa had said during his announcement. .
The referent of the private education sector, for his part, expressed that “we have worked together with the Ministry of Economy and Education, in coordination with the jurisdictions, to optimize the redistribution of the transfers of higher costs to fees in the semester.”
De Vicenzi explained that “The agreement itself is 16.8% in the month of March, 3.35% in the months of April, May and June, and 4% in the month of July.” And he concluded by noting that “this is a reference that is raised at the national level. And we are all going to work to ensure that it is fulfilled.”
The novelty of school fees
The extension of the Fair Prices Program until next June will introduce as a novelty a cap on the increases in fees for private schools and the incorporation of school products, thus adding to food, textiles, medicines and fuels, among other items already present in the initiative.
Facing the new school year that will begin, depending on the province, between February 27 and March 2, the government program will incorporate bookstore items and supplies which will have, like the rest of the products, a maximum increase of 3.2% per month or, failing that, they will have a frozen price until June 30.
“It is important to understand that classes start in March and for parents it is a challenge,” Massa had pointed out at the launch event that took place at the Kirchner Cultural Center (CCK). The price list for school products, like that of the rest of the expansion of the program, has not yet been released, but it is expected to be published in the coming days. On the other hand, the new agreement will also include the fees of private schools throughout the country.
Specifically, a ceiling of increases of 16.8% is established in March, 3.35% in April, May and June; and 4% in July.
This cap will be applied to private schools with a state subsidy, a percentage that is between 70% and 80% of all private schools in the country, depending on whether they are secular or confessional schools, according to a 2018 report from the University National Pedagogical (Unipe),
The increase criteria will act as a national reference since the educational system is decentralized and it is the provinces that administer the subsidies, and end up authorizing and implementing the increases.
In any case, both the national government and the private school sector trust that the provinces adhere to it, and, for this, next Thursday the Federal Council of Education -with representatives of the ministries of Education of all the jurisdictions – will meet to finish defining the details.
The objective is to stagger the increases and that they are not concentrated in a single month: “There were provinces that had already authorized increases of up to 40% for March or 18% or 24%,” Massa said yesterday. The agreement with the schools is the result of coordinated work between the authorities and the sector.
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