Asunción, Agencia IP.- The Government of Paraguay celebrated the tenth anniversary of the National Scholarship Program «Carlos Antonio López» (Becal), which has enabled more than 3,700 young Paraguayans to study at some of the world’s top universities, reaffirming its commitment to human-capital specialization and the continuity of the program.
«We are just beginning to realize that this is the right path. We must choose the longest and most difficult path; we must not choose shortcuts, and Becal is an example of not choosing the shortcut, because today we already have more than 3,000 compatriots proving that to Paraguayans and to the world,” said President Santiago Peña during the event.
He highlighted that today, in each of Paraguay’s 263 districts, there are young people who know that staying in school is worthwhile and that academic training is the path toward personal development and national progress.
«Today we are not only more than 3,700 scholarship recipients of a program born from the vision of Don Carlos Antonio López; we are the support base that strengthens and contributes to a country convinced that through education, science, and training, we can offer experiences and learning opportunities so that all Paraguayans can have a better life,» said the Vice Minister of Human Capital, Andrea Picasso.
She emphasised that over the past ten years, the Becal program has transformed the lives of many Paraguayan professionals who were the first in their families to access higher education.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, highlighted that Becal’s main benefit has been democratizing access to higher education, enabling many young people to study at top universities abroad through this public policy.
The minister stated that over the next ten years, «we must be more ambitious,» aiming for 15,000 to 20,000 young Paraguayans to be trained abroad. «We must provide the funding; we must continue designing policies so that higher education continues to be democratized in our country,» he said.
The minister affirmed that this program would have a tremendous impact on the country’s development and stressed that «this is something that must not end, and it will not end.»