Through a report from the UAPA Special Administrative Unit for School Feeding, the Public Ministry learned of the report of the delays in the municipalities of La Estrella, Valledupar, Quibdó, Lorica, Facatativá, Neiva, Armenia, Santa Marta, Buenaventura, for the start of provision of the service and start-up of the school feeding program.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation indicated that of the 97 Certified Territorial Entities (ETC) responsible for providing the service, 60 have already started the academic calendar and in 15 of these, the food supplement is not guaranteed from the first day of the school calendar. of the beneficiaries in official educational institutions.
It is important to specify that at the end of last year, the mayor of Valledupar, Mello Castro, requested authorization from the Municipal Council to commit future terms of the 2023 budget, in order to advance the awarding and contracting processes of these projects.
The 19 councilors approved the decision, giving the municipal administration a free hand to start the process with enough time and achieve what seemed impossible.
Iván Bolaño, Secretary of Education in Valledupar, said that the process is quite advanced, “we are working on the issue, expediting the times so that the students of the municipality can have these benefits as soon as possible. The process has to comply with its deadlines in the reception of the proposals, their analysis, acceptance of the best one and the contracting process, that is why we believe that everything will be in execution in the next few days ”, he assured.
He stressed that they have had the support of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, to give greater transparency to the issue and to rigorously apply everything required by the State Contracting Law.
On the other hand, the control entity referred to its concern for cases such as Sucre, where the Government will award the contract until March 15, 2023, and situations such as Yopal, a territorial entity that must initiate a new process for a declaration desert that was in progress.
The Public Ministry also specified that, according to the report, in the departments of Antioquia, Cauca and Chocó, the start of the PAE was carried out partially and in the case of Caquetá, Córdoba, Guaviare, Sucre and Quindío, it was not reported. the beginning of operation for the provision of the service, putting at risk that children and adolescents receive timely and with quality, the food rations they require to guarantee their access and permanence in the school system.
Through territorial and judicial prosecutors, monitoring of the provision of the school feeding program will continue, reminding mayors and governors that they must strictly comply with the provisions of Directive 019 of 2022 issued by the control entity.