Thursday, July 10, 2025

Science council wants to suspend scholarships to pregnant women

Having a baby while studying abroad is apparently frowned upon by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt).

The public agency is planning to suspend scholarship payments to Mexican women who become pregnant while studying overseas.

Mexican men who father a child while studying in a foreign country would also be liable to having their Conacyt scholarships suspended.

In addition, foreign students studying in Mexico would lose any financial support they receive from the science council if they are expecting a child.

Conacyt has submitted an updated version of its scholarship rules to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer). The commission is currently reviewing the document.

“A female scholarship holder who is pregnant, in labor or in puerperium” is subject to the suspension of her scholarship or support payment, the document says, adding that male scholarship holders who become fathers can also temporarily lose their payments.

Payment would resume once affected students can show Conacyt they are no longer in violation of its scholarship rules. Presumably that could only occur after the puerperium period – usually considered to be about six weeks – has ended and students have returned to their studies.

Conacyt is also seeking to extend the validity of a rule that allows it to suspend the scholarship payments of Mexicans students studying abroad and foreign students studying here if they participate in political protests. That rule was published by Conacyt in a 2018 document that sets out its scholarship do’s and don’ts.

“A [Mexican] scholarship holder who is carrying out his or her studies … outside the country as well as a foreign scholarship holder who is carrying out his or her studies in Mexico must respect the legislation and regulations of the host country as well as abstain from participating in any kind of political event or protest,” says the updated rules document submitted to Conamer.

With reports from El Universal 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A small plane flies over the ocean

How the Mexican security minister’s slip of the tongue rankled Salvadoran President Bukele

0
President Bukele took exception after García Harfuch's identified a drug-smuggling plane as coming from El Salvador.
gold bars

Highway robbery near Guadalajara nets 6 million pesos worth of gold and silver

0
Such open-road heists have risen in frequency recently and could pose a threat to potential investors otherwise attracted by nearshoring opportunities.
Security chief Omar García Harfuch, Attorney General Gertz and other Mexian officials sit on a stage in front of a banner reading "National Strategy against Extortion" in spanish

Authorities launch national strategy against extortion to tackle a pernicious and widespread crime

1
The strategy contemplates new laws that would force states to investigate the crime, even when victims are too afraid to make an official report.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity