One million students still do not access the School Meal Plan, the Comptroller's Office denounced

The School Meal Plan (PAE) has repeatedly been in the midst of controversy. There have been several times in which the media have denounced the irregular actions of that body and, with the latest information from the Comptroller's Office, a new problem is added to this space. According to the entity, 11 certified territorial entities have not yet started the corresponding school feeding, even though classes began in person for three months.

The comptroller delegate for citizen participation, Luis Carlos Pineda, said that this figure translates into one million students in the country who are not receiving school meals. “The responsibility for the provision of the school food service must be from the first day of the academic calendar and throughout its term of 2022. That is why the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, from its preventive powers, has been carrying out a special follow-up since 2021, with the support of departmental management,” Pineda explained.

According to Comptroller's Office Buenaventura, in El Valle, it has a delay in the start of operation of 70 days, the highest of the other areas. In Neiva, Pitalito, Caqueta, Cesar, Córdoba, Cúcuta, Magdalena, Santa Marta, Sincelejo and Sucre, the delay is just over two months.

Food is not the only problem identified by the Comptroller's Office, on the contrary, the damage to spaces was highlighted. “There is a deterioration in the infrastructures required for the implementation of the PAE, as well as the lack of kitchenware in most educational venues. 16% of EIs (24) do not have a kitchen, 26% (39) do not have a storage place, 15% (22) do not have a dining room and 22% (33) do not have a place for food cooling.”

The Comptroller's Office warns that in less than half of the institutions visited, the plan is being fully implemented, that is, 47%, a total of 70 entities. Another 58 are being treated under the industrialized ration modality. 21 entities are under the modality of hot and transported food.

It was last week when the Ombudsman's Office warned that in the 27 uncertified municipalities of Córdoba it had not yet started the School Feeding Program (PAE). According to officials responsible for verifying the correct functioning of the Plan, the situation is complex in municipalities such as San Bernardo del Viento, Moñitos, Puerto Escondido, Buenavista, La Apartada, Ayapel, Los Córdobas, among others.

“We call on the certified territorial entity, the Secretariat of Departmental Education, to process the corresponding contractual actions as quickly as possible to ensure the start in terms of quality and opportunity,” said the Public Prosecutor's Office through its Twitter account.

The plan suggests that this benefit should reach about 156,000 students distributed in 27 of the 30 municipalities in this section of the country. The secretary of departmental education, Leonardo Rivera, assured that he was engaged in mid-March, however, by the court of the 25th of that month, he had not started. The official, then, stressed that on Monday, March 28, everything would be ready to implement the School Food Plan in all institutions.

During this beginning year, several irregularities have been reported. One of the most recent ones has to do with the implementation of this program in Itagüí.M “Earlier this month we published a complaint from parents, who, worried and indignant, are not satisfied with the food their children receive in the Educational Institution Municipal Council of Itagüí,” a Twitter account states called 'El Itagüiseño'.

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