More than 1.5 million free school backpacks and supply packs will be given away to primary and secondary school students in Jalisco by the end of August.
“This is a right not a gift,” Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval said as he distributed the first backpacks in the Mochilas con Útiles program last week. This year’s giveaway will set back the state government 195 million pesos (12.5 million dollars).
After the governor’s last annual state-of-the-state report (informe), Jalisco legislator Juan José Cueva García criticized the poor quality of the backpacks, which he said were mostly unusable after two or three months, forcing parents to purchase new ones. He also commented on their “small” size, which was insufficient for secondary school students.
Social Development Secretary Salvador Rizo Castelo acknowledged the faults and said this year’s batch would be redesigned to be much stronger.
Answering critics who say the program is blatant populism, Sandoval said last week that the program, along with subsidized bus transport for students, was “an investment” that prevented children from dropping out of school and helped families that struggle to survive on low incomes.