According to a report by the General Auditor of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish), the State of Buenos Aires provided grants to students without knowing, on the one hand, how much school lunch costs, and on the other, if the financial aid was sufficient to cover the monthly expenses of the children, and, finally, whether the beneficiaries attended classes.

The subsidies in question correspond to the initiative "To Work is To Study", which operates under the aegis of "With the Law the City’s Citizens", which is a project of the Ministry of Social Development of the City Capital, and are intended to retain or reintegrate into the educational system for children between 18 and 29 years of age by providing financial aid, which currently amount to $310 monthly.

The City’s watchdog approved this year a report on the 2011 administration of “To work is to study”, which identifies certain "inconsistencies" within the initiative, such as the lack of a unified approach to establish how much money should be given to the beneficiaries. In fact, the authorities of “ To work is to study” told AGCBA technicians that "there is no parameter to evaluate the monthly expenses a child needs to cover school lunches, nor what percentage is covered with the subsidy".

Meanwhile, the investigation revealed a "lack of updates in the benefit amount," and stated: "In the period between 2009 and 2011 the value of the subsidy increased by approximately 2% (from 275 to 280 pesos), which does not compensate the loss of real value that indicates the evolution of the Consumer Price Index (CPI - INDEC), which had an increase of 20%" for that same period.
When it comes to money, the watchdog found that, although the 2011 budget initiative increased 16% over the previous year, during the course of the year under review there was a reduction of around 23%. In numbers, in early 2011 the “To work is to study” had sanctioned a budget of $22,644,336, but the year closed with a total of $17,382,996.

Another aspect highlighted by the auditors is that the plan “To work is to study” intended to arrive in 2010 to about 6,500 children but, only 4,866 children received subsidies (74.9%).

The research shows that despite this performance, the following year the program showed more ambition, but also failed to reach their intended target. The plan was intended to reach 7,500 children, but only 5,847 beneficiaries were given the subsidies. 
 
With this data, the report concludes that, "taking into account the target reached in 2010, there is no justification as to why in 2011 the set annual goal was even greater." On the same subject, the AGCBA argues that "the scope of 'To study is to work' is limited because only part of the City’s citizens registered beneficiaries are enrolled" in educational outreach initiative.

In 2011 there were 259,844 beneficiaries of the City Citizenship Program; however, only 36,018 people were between the ages of 18 and 29. Despite this, only 5000 people received coverage.
 
Be that as it may, "there are no effective actions of circulation or acquirements that will tend to change the current situation. While propagandistic activities (of 'To Study is To Work') are mentioned, there are no records of their achievements and results," the audit expressed. This situation was also noticed within the Ministry of Social Development. In fact, the Information, Monitoring, and Evaluation Unit working with this case produced a report on the City Citizenship Program and the 'To Work is To Study' Program and stated that "there is still 20.3% of young people who do not study or work, that being said, it is necessary to plan specific actions, including capturing them through mass media campaigns."

The watchdog also explains that "those responsible for the 'To Study is Work' have recognized the need and intention to strengthen the dissemination (of the initiative) to check that the future beneficiaries are aware (of the plan) and the requirements for registration.”

When it comes to controlling the beneficiaries, the AGCBA noted that "the program does not have a team to intervene and perform monitoring of (young) people dropping out of school without having completed high school. Also, social reports or social intervention were never done."  

Against this background, the auditors examined a sample of 42 files of active beneficiaries that at the time the report was being written they received subsidies, and stated that "deposits were made to (young) beneficiaries that did not properly meet the required deadlines for submitting school certificates, as well as other cases in which the school certificates were never submitted.”

The report details the 27 cases in the sample, which would be a 64.3% that "do not certify school attendance every six months, and still, deposits were made throughout 2011. Of these 27 cases, 13 showed no school certifications during the entire year and the remaining 14 only submitted one. Of the 13 who did not have licenses, four continued to charge subsidies" during that year.

According to the report, "we did not find unified requirements in the way the presentation of the school certifications nor the criteria of the accreditation of the subsidies". "This situation is reflected in the statistics, because people who have not been accredited are considered beneficiaries. Therefore, it is incorrect to conclude that everyone listed as a beneficiary in everything concerning payment provisions, quarterly reports, standards, monitoring and evaluation reports, among others, are actually embedded in the education system."

Despite the lack of controls that were detected in several aspects, the watchdog concluded that the City's initiative 'To Work is To Study', presents a "general proper development", although it was recognized that there performance is "below their potential".