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Icetex will reach remote municipalities in Colombia. – The newspaper
Icetex has set the goal of bringing its offer of services every year to the inhabitants of 200 remote municipalities in the country where it has not been present in the past, the president of the entity, Mauricio Toro, announced on Tuesday.
“The goal we have set for ourselves is to visit 200 Colombian municipalities a year where we have never been. They are those municipalities in remote regions of the national territory where the ambitious offer we have has not yet reached. And we’ve already started,” Toro said in statements to Colombia Hoy Radio
The official narrated the way in which, during a recent visit to a municipality in Valle del Cauca, the residents -moved- thanked the State for the possibility it offered them to finance the education of the youth of the municipality. “It’s touching when the peasants come up to you and say: ‘Pinch me. I did not think it possible to see my children educated in a university,’ ”he emphasized.
“And it is that many people cannot travel even to their capital municipality. So, when we bring them the universities and we bring them the entire line of educational offer and they know that they can study virtually, that we finance their education and even their maintenance, people are motivated and plan their future with enthusiasm”, added Toro.
In the radio interview, the official recalled that the call for the ‘Young Talents’ program is open until July 15, which delivers between ten thousand and twenty thousand dollars to artists, storytellers, graffiti artists, people linked to the Casas de Municipal Culture, audiovisual producers and, in general, to anyone linked to the arts and culture to carry out studies inside or outside the country.
“In order to reach the most remote municipalities in the country, we made a change in the requirements and allowed anyone linked to culture to apply. They are not required to have technical, technological or professional degrees. Once people finish their studies, they do a social project, which they share with the community and the credit is forgiven. They are left owing absolutely nothing, ”he emphasized.
Toro also recalled that the National Development Plan, approved by Congress, contemplated tax benefits for students with Icetex educational credits, while expressing his concern and disagreement with the announcement made by some universities to demand the articles that contemplate such benefits. .
“There is something that worries me today and it is that this contribution that was approved in the Tax Reform is being demanded by a group of universities that have not understood their role of co-responsibility with the students,” Toro denounced after recalling that each year the entity turns to universities between 1.5 and 2 billion pesos to finance the education of its students.
“There are universities with 70 percent of their students financed by Icetex. And they exist today thanks to Icetex. So, this time they are only going to have to put a little bit to help cover interest rates for young people. Those universities that have come together to knock down this article – I don’t know if ASCUN is there – are going to do great damage to the country and to other universities”.
“These universities are selfish in suing and they don’t know the great damage they are doing. That is why I call on you to co-responsibility. We know that the (Constitutional) Court is going to help us scrutinize this article very well, so that the students pay zero percent and we achieve credit capitalization,” he concluded.