The Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands will distribute this summer, for the fourth consecutive year, a total of 13,552 debit cards for the purchase of basic necessities. The measure, which involves an investment of 3.3 million euros, is aimed at zero-fee students, that is, those who during the school year enjoy the dining service free of charge because they are in a situation of economic vulnerability.
The Minister of the area, Manuela Armas, pointed out that "when assuming the responsibility of the ministry I committed myself to making it a priority to offer institutional support of any kind to students whose personal circumstances so require; in this sense, the delivery of prepaid cards for zero-fee dining students is one more example of this commitment, which constitutes a great help for these families, and which we hope the new government team will maintain in the future."
For her part, the general director of Centers, Infrastructure and Educational Promotion, Laly González, explained that each card has a balance of 120 euros per month per student for the months of July and August, a period in which school canteens are not active because schools remain closed for holidays.
The cards will be activated on Saturday, July 1, and can be used from then until August 31, in one or more purchases up to the maximum of the monthly amount available, in small or large businesses that are registered as food businesses. The recharge of these will be done monthly, so they must be kept after use. The remaining amount on the cards as of July 31 will be available until August 31.
As in previous calls, the schools will be in charge of delivering the debit cards and transferring information about their use to families.
Users are reminded that purchases made with these cards do not require a PIN. If it is requested at the time of payment, you only have to clarify to the person responsible for the business that it is enough to press the "ok" key on the dataphone.
The recipients of the card must take all necessary precautions to avoid theft, robbery, forgery or loss of the card, as the card delivered cannot be replaced. Likewise, purchase tickets for food acquired through this channel must be kept, which will be required as justification, as established by the Subsidies Law.
