The Ministry Of Culture of Buenos Aires Paid $ 189,000 in Scholarships without Knowing How They Were Chosen
It was in a musical training project for children between four and 12 years old that was made in 2007. According to a report of the Audit of the City, the Undersecretary of Cultural Management transferred the money of 55 fellows to the civil association that dictated the courses although, in addition, it could not verify if the students effectively attended classes throughout the year.
The Undersecretary of Cultural Management of the City of Buenos Aires covered in 2007 some 55 musical training scholarships without knowing how the students were selected, or if indeed they attended classes. A report from the General Audit of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) states that the area spent for these scholarships is $189,750.
The courses, aimed at students between fourth and twelfth grade, were dictated by the civil association Collegium Musicum, a group founded in 1946 by Central European musicians based in Argentina. The relationship between the City and the association was born in 1999, when decree 2107 was signed. This measure established a model of cultural agreement in which Collegium Musicum undertook to teach classes for 100 scholarship students and teachers proposed by the Buenos Aires Government, in addition to offering six annual concerts. In return, the Executive would transfer $150,000.
The Watchdog notes that the Secretariat for Cultural Management did not have a formal annual planning of its work and, as an example, highlights the "requests for budgetary increases that were made" during the period under review. It is that, with the decree 2107 in force since 2000, Collegium Musicum received $ 1,628,740 until 2007, but only that year had two transfers of $ 250,000 each.
The selection of the scholarship holders was the responsibility of the Directorate Primary Education Area, which made a list of 106 boys corresponding to the 2007 cycle. At the same time, Collegium Musicum made a statement of its data. The AGCBA crossed both information and detected several differences: the civil association received transfers by 130 students and not by the 106 reported by the Primary Education Area; 31 of those 106 students given as scholars do not appear in the surrender made by the musicians and, although in the list of Primary Education appear 15 boys as being discharged throughout the school year, Collegium Musicum collected 100% of their scholarships.
Likewise, the Audit adds that the Directorate for Primary Education "does not carry out an adequate follow-up of the attendance of the students that it selects as fellows", nor does it inform to Cultural Management who are the chosen children to learn music. Thus, the undersecretary under the Ministry of Culture, which has the funds, "validates the Collegium Musicum renditions without requiring the endorsement of the body that selects the fellows."
On the other hand, the report adds a breach of the clause of the agreement with regard to music classes for teachers designated by the Government of Buenos Aires, because "it does not work in the under secretariat any list of teachers who have made use of" the courses.