The head of Education, Nicolás Cataldo, acknowledged that in the FES project “there are elements that are perhaps conceptually similar” to the initiative presented by former President Piñera.
The Minister of Education, Nicolás Cataldo, assumed that the Financing for Higher Education (FES) project presented by President Gabriel Boric It has similarities with the one proposed by former president Sebastián Piñera in 2012 to eliminate the CAEalthough it was emphatic that “It’s bold to say it’s the same.“.
This was stated by the Secretary of State during the interview he gave to T13 Radio, an opportunity in which he admitted that “Maybe it is not the project that the president imagined, maybe not all the elements that were raised in the campaign are there.“.
“I had to work on the proposal for a solution to the CAE in Guiller’s campaign when he was a presidential candidate, and many of the elements that we have considered today, we had considered at that time“said the head of Education.
Along the same lines, the minister said that “if one looks back and observes the proposals that were presented in Piñera, in Bachelet, There are elements that are perhaps conceptually similar as well.“.
Cataldo and Piñera’s project to end the CAE
Asked about what was stated by Magdalena Piñera, the daughter of the late former president Sebastián Piñera, in the sense that “we would have saved 12 years“If the project to end the CAE in 2012 had been approved, Nicolás Cataldo assured that “that’s not real“.
“One thing is that There are elements that are conceptually similar and another thing is that the projects are the same“Argued the Secretary of State.
Then he delved into the topic and stated that “this project that we present now is not a loan, it does not have the characteristics of a loan, the bank does not participate, it does not have an interest rate, the contingency is below 10%. I am only pointing out elements that differ fundamentally from the proposal of former President Piñera.. There is no debt reorganization plan to make the debt collectable,” he stressed.
Regarding the FES, Nicolás Cataldo explained that “we have a whole part that has to do with the reorganization of the debt of those students who are in default, and also those who are not, to be able to make a less heavy backpack. Therefore, I would say that it is bold to say that it is the same (as Piñera’s project),” he reiterated.
Finally, the minister asserted that “we recognize that there are elements that are similar in the sense that they operate as elements of the project, naturally. Yes, this is a discussion that has been going on for more than 10 years. So neither one can be so pretentious to think that everything we are proposing is new and is the discovery of gunpowder or the wheel“, he concluded.