Through a Communication to the Public Opinion, the Mayor’s Office of Yopal defended the efforts carried out by the Municipal Education Secretariat since the previous year, to guarantee the educational basket for the students of the Casanareña capital this year.
The communication points out that it is not true that there has been poor planning from the Municipal Administration to guarantee the provision of these services, and that the lack of them at this time is due to multiple factors that explain one by one in the communication.
The following is the text of the Communiqué released by the Yopal Mayor’s Office in this regard:
Communication to the public opinion
Taking into account several comments that have been raised regarding the provision of the educational service, the municipal administration is allowed to inform the public that:
1. It is not true that there has been bad planning with respect to the provision of educational services, when meetings have been held since June of the previous year, where rectors, the Casanare Teachers Union, student representatives have been informed and even from the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, the financial situation not only of Yopal but of the entire country. This situation is ratified by the same Minister of Education Alejandro Gaviria, who has publicly acknowledged that there is a deficit in the sector of 2 trillion pesos.
2. Regarding the provision of the PAE service, it is not true that there has been bad planning, because since the previous year 3 contractual processes were published that were declared void. In the first two, no bidders were presented and in the third, the bidder did not meet the selection requirements, listed in Law 80 and under no circumstances will the municipal administration approve something that goes against the norm.
It is important to mention that in the follow-up carried out by the control entities, the Attorney General’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office have been accompanied by the citizen participation area, during the decision-making process in the Municipal School Feeding Committee, where they have had full knowledge of the actions carried out in the planning process carried out by the Secretary of Education of Yopal in 2022, to guarantee the service of the PAE in 2023.
It should be noted that the PAE is a process that implies a complexity in its logistics, in the standard draft established in the regulations of the School Administrative Unit (UAPA) attached to the Ministry of Education and additionally, the Municipal Administration does not authorize any advance Therefore, the contractor must have sufficient financial strength to assume the costs of personnel, suppliers, and transportation.
Only when each ration is served to the students and once the contractor presents his report with supports, the payment becomes viable.
The commitment of the Municipal Administration with the PAE has been such that even in the previous year there was recognition by Lyliam Obregón, delegate of the Attorney General’s Office, who pointed out at the public table that “it has been an important experience that deserves to be exalted and replicated. , I would say, at a national level due to the work of the team, by providing the service without interruption and that is favorable and successful”.
Magaly Silva, Provincial Comptroller for Citizen Participation in Casanare, pointed out in November 2022, that in the framework of the special follow-up carried out on the School Feeding Program, visits have been made in some educational institutions, in order to bring observations to the Yopal Secretary of Education. “In the visits we have not observed any event that generates alarm, because fortunately the provision of the Service has been efficient.”
From now on, the School Food team is updating the prices, so that they are in line with current market conditions, to publish the contract on the Secop platform as soon as possible, so that any company can apply to the call.
3. Regarding School Transport, it should be noted that it is a strategy of the National Government that does not have any source of financing, that is, the Ministry of Education, does not turn a single peso to guarantee the provision of this service.
Since the previous year, negotiations were carried out with the Ministry of Education, with a project where the number of buses, the different routes and the population to be served were defined, but the answer is that there were no resources to support this promoted strategy. from the center level.
The project was also presented to the Government of Casanare, to the OIM and even to oil companies and the answer was always the same, there is no money.
“Not for a single moment have we stood still, talking about management to obtain resources, to guarantee the educational basket 100 percent,” said Mayor Luis Eduardo Castro.
4. The hiring process for general and administrative services personnel has been expedited, so that work in educational institutions can be carried out without setbacks.
5. Taking into account the enormous difficulties that the education sector has in the country due to the structural crisis, the educational community is invited to the Unit and to work as a team, as proposed by the mayor Luis Eduardo Castro, in the meeting he held with the rectors of the educational institutions of Yopal, when he summoned them to accompany him to Bogotá, to talk with the Minister of Education Alejandro Gaviria, to ratify the needs that the Municipal Education Secretariat has made widely known since the beginning of this administration.
“For us it is favorable that the teachers have such a close relationship with the President of the Republic Gustavo Petro, especially when the Colombian president has insisted that Education is one of the fundamental pillars of his government. We have great hope that, with the rectors, we can have great support that will allow Yopal to obtain more resources from the National Government,” said Mayor Luis Eduardo Castro.
Source: Yopal City Hall Communications