Bolivian Child
Juancito Pinto was a little drummer boy, who had traded his drum for a rifle
during the War of the Pacific of the 1880s. He perished at the hands of the
Chilean army and his name is still synonymous with
attempts to recuperate sovereign access to the sea. His legacy lives on when
the Bolivian Ministry of Education implemented the Bono Juancito Pinto,
which is a cash payment of Bs. 200 (approximately 15 USD) to each child, upon
condition that they are enrolled and are attending primary school.
Marco, a blogger from Tarija, recalls portraying young Juancito in a school
play. Even though he would have preferred to have assumed the role of more
well-known heroes like Eduardo Avaroa or Ladislao Cabrera, he sees the new
government policy as something that can improve the lives of children in
criticisms, but he thinks this is something positive:
I stand with those that defend this measure. Why? For one simple reason
because it guarantees that thousands of Bolivian children attend school at least
through primary school and also receive a free school breakfast (I also applaud
the further efforts of the
accomplishment, but a giant step. One does not need to be an expert in human
development to understand that reducing the levels of school dropout and child
malnutrition provides us a real hope of a better future.
The Courageous Ones
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