The scholarship of 4 thousand pesos per month that Monica Gaspar, 24, received since last year helped her to finally buy a new mattress and a base to sleep a little more comfortable with her 5-year-old daughter, to pay for the university enrollment of 3 thousand pesos semester and even to save a little. The pressure of maintaining an average of 93, not failing subjects and also taking care of her little one is high, but her desire to excel and be able to finish a university degree keeps her striving every day.
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Obtaining the scholarship “Mothers Heads of Family to Strengthen their Professional Development”, focused precisely on single mothers like her who were studying a bachelor’s degree, was a great help, so she has nothing but gratitude for Conacyt, the institution that awards them. That scholarship has made the difference to advance to the eighth semester of the law degree at the Universidad Mexiquense del Bicentenario, but since last January, he stopped receiving it without any explanation.
Monica, along with 173 other female students from across the country, began organizing through Facebook groups and whatsapp after receiving no response from authorities for months. They protested on social networks with the hashtags #ConacytNoCumple #ConacytMiente and #NosotrasSí and managed to get at least the Council to respond that the delay was due to “a process of administrative adaptation of conacyt’s budget programs.”
In the email, signed by Ignacio Moreno Vázquez, deputy director of Mobility at Conacyt, he said that “our efforts are poured into resolving it as soon as possible, so we estimate that in the course of June it will be solved and we will be able to start the process of formalizing his scholarship”.
However, until this 19 July, their situation remained the same. On the Conacyt website it is not possible to know the universe of affected fellows because the league with the list of results of last year’s call is broken, but in the results of the selected 2021, published on June 28, they add up to one thousand 800 new scholarship holders for this year.
Animal Politico asked conacyt’s press area to know the reason for the lack of payments, and sent emails to the officials responsible for this scholarship, Salimar Alfaro Velasco and Ignacio Moreno Vázquez, but there was no response.
So far, the young women explain, no intern has been paid since January, but they are still looking to get at least one explanation, especially since, they insist, they have met the requirements of the scholarship.
That’s why they used the hashtag #NosotrasSí, refers to the requirements on the condition of the scholarship. Tania Arcos, a student of electromechanical engineering at the Tecnológico Nacional de Tabasco, and with a 9-year-old daughter, says that they have received criticism and attacks on social networks for being single mothers and because people think they do not work and only live on the scholarship.
“That’s why I’m interested in making it clear that this isn’t a scholarship where you’re only given money. We must maintain a good average, be regular students, have good behavior. Many of us are of excellence, we have an average of more than 90 and at this time we could not apply for another scholarship, because we have this one although we are not being paid. We do deliver,” says Tania.
She stopped studying until her daughter entered elementary school, and in the meantime worked in sales, customer service and is now an administrative assistant for 600 pesos a week. Not having any family support, the scholarship was used to pay the rent, what he needed from school and his salary for the pantry and transportation.
“The expenses do not wait, many are borrowing although we do not know if we will be able to solve it. We are practically waiting for the coup de grace, but we are also hopeful that the scholarship will still arrive,” explains Tania.
The scholarships, according to the Conacyt website, “are an instrument for single mothers who are heads of households to complete their professional training” and aims to “strengthen professional training by obtaining 100% of the academic credits, seeking to facilitate their insertion in the labor market as well as their economic independence”.
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The scholarships are awarded for one to 36 months during the study of the university career, they must verify that they are single mothers, documentation of their children, proof of studies with a minimum average of 80, socioeconomic study and curriculum.
However, for the 2021 call, the payment it was set at 3 thousand pesos per month, one thousand pesos less than in last year’s call. All the beneficiaries also have medical service in the ISSSTE for themselves and their children during the period of the scholarship.
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