Chile's 2027 Budget Proposal Ends 17-Year Student Laptop Program

The Chilean government's 2027 budget proposal, presented by President José Antonio Kast's administration, eliminates explicit funding for the Junaeb program known as TIC Scholarships. This policy, originating from the 2009 "Yo elijo mi PC" initiative, has distributed laptops to seventh-grade students for 17 years.

In 2026, the program operated with a budget of approximately $35 billion Chilean pesos and delivered 15-inch notebooks with educational software and 12 months of mobile internet to 96,100 students. The draft budget identifies no equivalent allocation to continue the distribution.

“De aprobarse la propuesta en sus actuales términos, durante el próximo año no se realizaría una nueva entrega de computadores a estudiantes.”

If approved in its current form, 2026 will mark the final year of the program. The measure is part of specific spending cuts within the Education portfolio, even as the ministry's overall budget sees a slight real-term increase. Funding for Bicentennial High Schools also faces a 46.71% reduction.

The program's history includes implementation controversies. In 2024, the Comptroller General found over 5,000 purchased laptops stored undelivered, some becoming obsolete. Junaeb also acknowledged that roughly 30,000 eligible students in subsidized private schools missed out due to budget constraints and exchange rate effects.

The Budget Directorate has previously flagged limitations in the program's impact evaluations. A 2012 study showed positive effects on technology skills, but did not find significant improvements in standardized test scores.