Wellbeing for boys and girls at school

This article is written by Diana Alarcón, Chief Advisor at International Affairs Office, Mexico City government, and Rocío Canudas, Advisor at the office.

• The problem: Mexico City has achieved universal coverage in primary and secondary education. However, lack of family resources often results in poor nutrition among school children.
• Why it matters: Poor nutrition prevents proper learning among students.
• The solution: The universal scholarship granted by the city government is spent on food and better nutrition for children attending elementary public schools.

Education at the core of social policy in Mexico City

For centuries inequality has been the landmark concern of Mexico City. Hence, at the beginning of her administration in December 2018, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made a public commitment to promote equity in all public programmes and investments. The motto of her government, “innovation and rights”, represents her efforts to use technology and innovation to guarantee all human and social rights for people in the city as the best way to build equity and justice across all social groups, regardless of their income, race or social condition.

Education is at the core of government efforts to build an equal society. Children and young people are the present and future of the city.

Education is at the core of government efforts to build an equal society. Children and young people are the present and future of the city. Government programmes have been designed to make the right to education effective for all, from preschool to graduate education, with a clear vision that education is not for the rich and privileged; education is a human right.

The government programme (2019-2024 in Mexico City) addresses students’ needs at all levels of education. For example, centres for early education are now free of charge for working women, five new campuses for middle-high school were built in the most marginalised areas in the city, and two new universities have been created: the Rosario Castellanos Institute for higher education, and a medical school to train medical doctors and nurses. In addition, the city government has built 300 community centres called PILARES, where people find free access to education, arts, culture, sports and training.

The federal government administers elementary education in Mexico City. However, the city government has implemented several programmes to guarantee the rights of children and young people to free and quality education. Programmes have focused on strengthening the infrastructure of schools, improving students’ nutrition and teacher's training and expanding access to cultural and sports activities in public schools. The following lines focus on a top-rated programme, Bienestar para los Niños y Niñas, Mi Beca para Empezar; a literal translation of the programme would be Welfare for Boys and Girls, My Scholarship to Start. A programme targeted at all children in public schools, from kindergarten to middle high school, aiming to eradicate school dropouts, improve academic achievement and strengthen the city’s educational system.

Universal rights vs. conditional cash transfers

At the beginning of the administration, there was a scholarship for ‘talent students’, delivered to children with the best school grades. However, the scholarship generated division and unhealthy competition among students and parents, and discriminated against children who did not perform well at school due to poor nutrition and lack of resources. In contrast, a scholarship for children from vulnerable families opens the door to discrimination and bullying.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum decided to expand the existing elite ‘talent students’ programme into a universal scholarship with the vision that all children in the city have talent. The Mayor maintains that Mexico City’s government should not condition universal rights by meritocratic criteria that do not consider the social and economic inequalities which are part of the city. She stresses the importance of creating an environment of equal rights and non-discrimination among all children.

A programme of universal scholarships for all children attending public schools is in marked contrast to other cash transfer programmes implemented in Latin America for so long, where benefits were targeted, conditioned and centrally managed. The universal character of this programme, along the lines of Bolsa Familia when first created in Brazil for Lula’s government, is an essential contribution to the design of social policies to eradicate discrimination and bullying at school, but also poverty and inequality in the city.

Wellbeing for Boys and Girls, Mi Beca para Empezar

Basic education is comprehensive in the city. There are 1,583,012 students and 1,254,052 in public schools, attended by 56,558 teachers in 4,205 schools; the rest 300+ thousand are enrolled in private schools. The universal scholarship programme grants a universal monthly stipend to the 1.25 million children enrolled in public schools, from preschool to middle high school.

This programme, unique in the country, is vital to support income, especially among low-income families, and incentivises children to finish their studies. As a complement, the city government doubled a previously existing programme of money transfers to families twice a year for school supplies and uniforms. The resources from both programmes are credited directly to families through a debit card that families use in stores or to make cash disbursements in most ATMs in the city. This modality of transferring resources directly to families prevents intermediation and clientelism, and it also promotes financial inclusion.

The experience of the programme ‘Welfare for Boys and Girls, My Scholarship to Start’’ implemented in Mexico City can be interesting for other states in Mexico and other Latin American governments. It has gone a long way to improve the design of social protection policies in support of education for children and young people. It was crucial at times of economic instability and hardship. Furthermore, during the Covid-19 pandemic, this programme was very useful in providing income support to families.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) evaluated this programme and found significant impacts among low-income families. As a result Unicef and the city's government organised a symposium to discuss the experience and lessons learned from this innovative and pioneering social protection programme. The seminar enabled an exchange of views on the value of social protection and welfare programmes and the challenges to their expansion and financing.

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