At the morning conference on February 17, Secretary of Public Education, Mario Delgado, shared that the Government of Mexico will advance the payments for January and February of the Universal Scholarship for Upper Secondary Education 'Benito Juárez'. Although the delivery of cards will conclude in March, beneficiaries will receive these amounts retroactively.
By instruction from President Claudia Sheinbaum, it was decided that payments will begin before the distribution of cards from the Bank of Wellbeing is completed, in order to ensure that no student is affected by the wait for their means of payment to be delivered. The 'Benito Juárez' scholarship program is intended for upper secondary education students in public schools and provides financial support of 1,750 pesos bimonthly.
Meanwhile, the distribution of 'Rita Cetina' scholarship cards, aimed at secondary school students, continues as scheduled. To date, 88,576 students have received their cards since the start of the process on February 5. During the week of February 17, card delivery will take place in Morelos, Veracruz, and Yucatán, with the goal of completing distribution in March.
Regarding the current status of continuation scholarships at different levels, the following details were provided: - Secondary ('Rita Cetina'): 5,603,611 benefiting students, with a budget of 7.9 billion pesos. - Upper Secondary ('Benito Juárez'): 2,579,992 beneficiaries, with 4.9 billion pesos. - Higher Education: 337,461 supported students, totaling 1.9 billion pesos. In total, 8,521,064 continuation scholarship recipients benefit from a total investment of 14.8 billion pesos.
Another relevant aspect of the report was the progress in the enrollment of new students for the Universal Scholarship for Upper Secondary Education 'Benito Juárez'. As of February 14, 797,993 students have registered, representing 52.5% of the total goal. This registration is aimed at students who entered high school between August and September 2024.
