The far-right administration of Argentinian President Javier Milei has formally cut more than 56 million dollars from the Secretariat of Education’s budget and suspended all transfers for infrastructure projects at national universities, dealing a severe blow to public education programs, teacher salaries, student scholarships, and university construction works across the country.

The cuts, formalized through Administrative Decision 20/2026, amount to 78,768,179,759 pesos (over $56 million USD) removed from existing allocations, according to official national expenditure records. The government also blocked funds previously designated for building projects at 13 national universities.

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The hardest hit program is the National Literacy Plan, which lost 35,288,051,713 pesos, primarily affecting transfers to provinces for its implementation. Additionally, the Executive Branch eliminated the Teacher Salary Compensation Fund — a mechanism that levels minimum teacher wages nationwide — removing 8,929,835,294 pesos.

In the infrastructure sector, the government applied a 5,303,000,000 peso cut directly impacting construction projects at 13 national universities. The National University of La Plata suffered the largest loss at 1,043,000,000 pesos, followed by the National Universities of General San Martín and Avellaneda (700,000,000 pesos each), the National University of Río Cuarto (680,500,000 pesos), and the National University of Entre Ríos (540,000,000 pesos).

The School Infrastructure and Equipment program saw a reduction of 21,686,636,818 pesos, limiting investment in the physical conditions of educational buildings. Meanwhile, the Educational Management and Socio-Educational Policies program lost 6,649,536,538 pesos, including the removal of more than 559,000,000 pesos specifically allocated for student scholarships.

State-owned company EDUC.AR S.A. also lost transfers totaling 48,000,000,000 pesos. Official records indicate that these budget changes will significantly reduce the capacity to implement educational policies at both national and provincial levels.

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