As the new academic term got under way this week, approximately 11,000 students enrolled in Chapala’s public schools lined up to collect school supplies and backpacks parceled out free of charge through the government-sponsored Mochilas con Utiles program. While the hand-out represents big savings for parents facing major expenses to put their kids through school, it comes as a blow to many small businesses.
For generations, small mom-and-pop stationery stores have relied on the annual rush in sales of school supplies as a chief source of income. In recent years many have been hit by stiff competition from the big box outlet chains that have arrived on the scene. Earnings have dropped even more drastically since the Mochilas con Utiles benefit was launched last year, forcing some papelerias to close up shop.
The Mochilas program also has downsides for many municipal governments that, like Chapala, have to dig into financially strapped treasuries to cough up a 50-percent share of the costs and take staffers away from their regular duties to manage the distribution of the supplies.
Chapala Education Director Armando Raygoza and the municipality’s Mochilas coordinator Fernando Flores qualify the program as more of a political propaganda ploy than a true social benefit.
“If the state has money to spare, why not spend it on maintaining and upgrading school facilities, rather than putting that burden on parents and school administrators?” Raygoza asked this week. “And look at all the revenue that’s wasted on printing big banners to hang outside each school with no purpose other than boasting about what they’re giving away inside.”
Flores suggested that the real beneficiaries are big companies that wrangle juicy contracts to supply the school goods. He would rather see city hall pay for vouchers so that parents can select whatever products they need and prefer from local enterprises rather than loading up on free stuff emblazoned with government logos.