translated from Spanish: Evangelicals say they teach values to fellows; program is secular: government

Arturo Farela, president of the National Fraternity of Evangelical Christian Churches (Cofraternice), assured that for seven months members of that organization began to work as “servants of the nation”, and either as volunteers of their congregation teach values of the Moral Card to 7 thousand young scholarships in Young Building the Future, in addition to recruiting new elements for the program; In this regard, the Secretariat of Labour assured that it had no religious organization identified within the tutor’s list, and that the program is secular. 
“Training plans that contain religious or indoctrination content are not identified. it is young people who freely choose which work center to train in and the training plan to be undertaken. It is a universal public and secular programme where all beliefs and religions are respected,” the Secretariat said.
Consulted by Animal Político, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said that for the Young Building the Future program they do not have recruiters or intermediaries, that the process to join is personal. He also denied that young fellows spend an hour of their time in the workplaces learning with evangelicals about the moral card.
Farela said there was an agreement between church leaders and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a meeting last March, in which the representative allegedly asked Cofraternice to participate in his six-year program aimed at young people.
“At the meeting with 20 leaders he invites us to the Young Building the Future Program, he tells us that he wanted the lay members of Cofraternice to support this program by looking for fellows, and teach them principles and values with the moral card,” Fare said in an interview with Animal Político.
As part of the agreement, he explained, 25 members of the organization joined to work as “servants of the nation,” the staff dedicated to identifying and affiliated beneficiaries of federal government social programs. In addition, “hundreds” of religious organization volunteers across the country recruit young people for the program.
His participation occurs in “three steps,” Farela said.
First “the intern is located, then he registers and gets a job, and the third step is that he is taught principles and values with the moral card”.
Usually the talks, detailed, last one hour a day or an hour a week in the workplace where the youth were located.
Where are the young men looking? asked Farela.
– On the street, anywhere.
– Do they do this as servants of the nation or as volunteers of Cofraternise?
– The two things: as servants of the nation and the volunteers. For us it is a very common thing because we tend to share our faith when we take to the streets, it is nothing new.
The program is operated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, and consists of those young people who do not study or work enter a work center to gain work experience for one year, in which they receive 3,600 pesos per month from the federal government.
According to the program’s operating guidelines, applicants have two options to apply for joining: go personally to the offices designated by the STPS or through the page jovenesconstruyendoelfuturo.stps.gob.mx.
During the process, the applicant delivers documents and fills out formats and questionnaires for the generation of a profile, regarding their interests and skills. Based on this information, the Program carries out an analysis process to present the employment options that the applicant may choose.
In the case of the religious organization that has 7,000 churches across the country, the volunteers and servants of the nation of Cofraternise identify the young people and take care of enrolling the fellows, and getting them where to develop activities for a year, Farela said.
Animal Political asked the Chair about this agreement with the Chair, but referred to the Secretariat of Labour.
The head of the Secretariat, Luisa María Alcalde, has insisted that it will meet the goal of entering a million young people as apprentices in some workplace, including large companies and even local businesses this year.
The program is one of the priorities of the six-year million-dollar budget. In 2019 it had 44 billion pesos and by 2020 it will have 25 billion pesos in budget.
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Original source in Spanish