The aFFaC denounces that dining scholarships are being denied to families in Mataró and Tarragona in an irregular situation

The Federated Associations of Families of Students of Catalonia (aFFaC) have accused the county councils and the Department of Education from deny dining scholarships to children from families in Mataró (Maresme) and Tarragona (Tarragonès) in irregular situation. As stated in a statement, there are at least two county councils that are denying these aid because the parents do not have a DNI or NIE.

aFFaC states that there is 340 children in this situation. The first of the incidents was detected in Tarragonès in May, where he found 200 children who did not have access to the dining grant because the procedure established by the County Council required the DNI or the NIE. The Consell ensures that the Tax agency it demands it. However, the aFFaC has ensured that the Tax Agency can give a NIF alternativo to carry out this type of procedure.

For six months, the association has been mediating with the Tarragonès County Council and the Department of Education to find a solution for these families. They regret but that “no alternative was put on the table” and there are still 200 students who receive “discriminatory” treatment by the public administration for “being children of migrants”.

As for Mataró, a group of families affected by the same situation has organized through the Mataró Housing Union to denounce the “bureaucratic funnel” in which they find themselves. The aFFaC affirm that there are 140 students in this situation and accuse the administration of “throwing balls out”. Specifically, in the Social Services office because they assure that a vulnerability report is necessary to be able to apply for the scholarship without a DNI and that obtaining this report can take half a year.

The other territories do give scholarships

Faced with these two situations, the aFFaC have met with Educació and with the County Councils involved. In the first case, they claim that they were told that they had no record of the situation and in the second, “they shun responsibilities and refuse to establish alternative circuits“. The organization, and the Mataró Habitat Union, have caused the administration to neglect its obligations and have demanded compliance with current regulations, which explicitly state the right of these students to receive scholarships.

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Beyond this, they have criticized the lack of will of the administrations of find a solution to the problem. In this sense, they have pointed out that the rest of the territories are giving scholarships to this group and that is why they insist that those who do not do so to meet with them to assess the mechanisms they are using.

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