Let me take a good look at you. Well, let me take a good look at you because today is the day that El Salvador changes. I don't know if you have sometimes seen on social media, on the internet—I don't know if you have seen old videos. I love you too. I love you too. Thank you, thank you. Me too, me too. Me too. All right, all right. Listen to me. Can you hear me? Can you listen to me for a minute and then—listen to me for a minute. Listen to me for a minute. Yes, I love you too.
Well, yes, listen, listen, listen. This moment that we are all happily experiencing here, you must engrave it in your mind. And not only those of us who are here, but all Salvadorans who are watching us on television, on social media, on live streams. I don't know if you have sometimes seen old, vintage videos of other countries, and you see when the country was poor, underdeveloped, and you see that old video and how that country changed, and 30 or 40 years later it became a developed country, an enviable power. Well, this moment we are in right now—no sugar, no sugar—this moment that we are living right now is our old video in—no, not that. Later it becomes a meme. Later it becomes a meme.
All right, now. All right, let's calm down for a bit. You know that I like to have fun just like you, that's why you're bringing that up. But let's calm down for a moment. Let's calm down for a moment. Listen. Good, good, good. All right, for a moment. As I was telling you, that old video that we see of other countries, this is going to be our old video. Decades from now, they will watch this video, which will be old, and they will say, 'That was when El Salvador began to move forward, because all its youth decided to train, make an effort, work, and get ahead themselves, their families, and their country.' And then they will say, 'Look at El Salvador, how it was in the year 2024, and look at how it is now. Look at everything they achieved.'
But for all of us to be that example for others, so that the youth and children who haven't been born yet see us decades from now and are inspired by what we are doing here today, this day cannot remain just as a speech, or as the launch of a program, or as an afternoon where we had a good time. It has to be something much bigger, something that depends on us, but goes beyond us. A little over a year ago, we gathered with 10,000 young people at the National Gymnasium. We were joined by 10 universities. Now we have 35 universities and more than 30,000 young people joining us today. This is growing, and it's growing faster than anyone would have thought. And do you know why? Because El Salvador is demonstrating what we always knew: that all our youth need is an opportunity.
For decades, this country accepted something that should never have seemed normal to us. And you can ask your parents: many couldn't study. Those who had the opportunity to study maybe only finished primary school. Those who finished primary school maybe could only study up to ninth grade. And of those who reached ninth grade, some—a few—went to high school. And of those who graduated from high school, almost none had anything afterward other than having to go to work—and not as a first job, which would be a good thing, but as the end of the road. The road ended there: going to work out of necessity for the rest of their lives until they died. That could not continue being the reality of our country, but it was the reality. You can ask your parents, and they will confirm what I am telling you.
And the data is right there. Out of every 100 students, only one to five go to university. Out of 40 students in a classroom, one goes to university, with luck, two. Well, now that must change, and that is what we are going to change. That is why I officially announce to you here: the government is going to make 50,000 scholarships available to you. 50,000 scholarships so that you can choose from all those careers that will be available: university degrees, technical training, vocational courses, whatever each person wants—in-person, blended, or virtual. And we are not going to stop at what we have achieved in El Salvador, where, as we said, we have already gone from having 10 universities to 35 universities. The Integration Directorate and the Foreign Ministry have gone out to secure scholarships abroad so that you can study from your computers if that is what you wish.
Me too. I love you too. And let no one think—these 50,000 scholarships are for this year, but next year more and more and more will come, and so on until all young Salvadorans have the opportunity to study. And for that, and to guarantee that it doesn't depend on a government or a budget, we have signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which joins us here, for 100 million dollars to finance all these scholarships long-term. And we are working with the World Bank and CAF to do everything else we need to do in the educational transformation. You know, sometimes they say in other countries, 'Youth don't want to study, youth don't want to work.' But I see these young people with this energy, with this desire to get ahead, with this happiness, with this joy. And I say, maybe that happens in other countries, but in El Salvador, the desire is not lacking. What was lacking were opportunities, and now there are opportunities for you to channel all that energy you have into fulfilling your dreams.
We have a goal, and you, all of you here, are going to be the spearhead of that goal. You are the first generation, but we are going to go with all generations. We are going to start from early childhood, with the First Lady's office. We are working from early childhood with the Child Care Centers (CAPI), with preschools, then with primary schools, with the remodeling of schools. All students in El Salvador already have their computer. We are connecting all schools to the internet, and now everyone who graduates like you has the right to a scholarship for higher education. As you can see: early childhood, preschool, primary school, computers for all young people, artificial intelligence tutors—one for each student, including graduates—internet connectivity in all schools (we are already at 70%, we have to reach 100%).
In short, from the time they are born until they graduate from higher education, the government will guarantee the entire path. In addition, with a national play strategy, new educational curricula, and new didactic materials. We are remodeling two schools every day. Every day, two more schools. And we are training tens of thousands of teachers, without whom none of this would be possible. So a greeting to the teachers, especially those who are supporting us in this process with all the enthusiasm in the world. And we also want to give you more things: places to spend your time constructively, like the National Library (BINAES), like the CUBO centers, with programs like CUBO Plus, with financial education, with children learning robotics, artificial intelligence, software—a generation that gives El Salvador the leap forward that we have never been able to have.
They said that El Salvador was doomed to be the most dangerous country on the planet, and we showed them that we went from being the most dangerous country on the planet to being the safest country on the continent. And you have come from every corner of this country, which is the safest in the entire continent. Now we have to show people that we are not only security, but that we are also education; that not only did we clear the land, plow it, and prepare it, but that we are going to cultivate the best harvest our country has ever had, and that is you: the best harvest El Salvador has had in its history. And you don't have to take my word for it. Today, today we are going to publish the complete budget for investment in education.
Two important facts. The first is that we are moving to an investment of more than 3 billion dollars a year. 3 billion dollars a year, which is triple—three times what all previous governments invested. Three times. The equivalent of more than 8% of GDP, the country that invests the most of its economy in education in all of Latin America. There will not be a single country in all of Latin America that invests a higher budget in education than El Salvador. More than 8% of our GDP, more than 8% of our economy in you, in our youth, in our children, in our future.
And any opponent, any journalist, any curious person, any interested party, any person who wants to help us, any multilateral organization, any bank, any foreign government will be able to measure this. Everyone will be able to verify that we will invest more than 3 billion dollars per year and more than 8% of our GDP. Just to compare, previous governments invested 3%. We will invest more than 8%, almost 9%. But you will have a great responsibility, because this scholarship thing is a deal. We give you the scholarship, we give you the opportunity, but what do you have to put in? You have to make an effort, you have to study, you have to work. There is one thing that no government in the world can give you, and that is your effort—effort, especially when maybe you don't feel like making an effort.
You know the difference between motivation and discipline, right? You are motivated right now. We are all motivated. We all want to conquer the world. We all have energy; we all want to get ahead. Right now we are all motivated, but maybe tomorrow you won't be so motivated. Maybe in a week you will be a little sad, you'll feel a bit unmotivated. That is where discipline must override motivation. We must have the discipline to study, to work, to always make an effort—when we are motivated like today, and when we are not motivated as well. Only that will lead us to fulfill our dreams: always working, always studying, always striving with motivation, with discipline, when we are motivated and when we are not. Right now everyone is motivated and it's easy, but in a week, in a month, there will be some who are not so motivated, and that's when you will need your discipline, that inner strength that tells you, 'I must continue to achieve my dreams, get ahead, lift my family up, and lift my country up.'
I'm going to ask you for one more thing. Well, motivation is not lacking. Use this energy to motivate yourselves and create discipline for when the motivation we have right now isn't there. Maybe you can do something that is just as important, and that is that each one of you—the wave. It doesn't stop, it doesn't stop. Just so you can see—all right, keep going. All right. I think the journalists accompanying us can see that there is no youth oppressed by any dictatorship here. The least there is here is oppression; what's here is pure joy.
Each one of you has—something important, something important, something important. Each one of you has friends, family, classmates, acquaintances, neighbors. Each one of you has someone who might need your help in daily life. Sometimes we see our friend and they are sad; maybe we can help them. Maybe we have a classmate who has trouble with their grades; maybe we can help them. Maybe we have a brother or sister who has problems, who feels down, who is depressed; maybe we can help them too. There are 30,000 people here, but if each of you helps 10 Salvadorans in whatever way—a good afternoon, a good morning, an 'is something wrong, can I help you?', helping study, helping in class, if someone feels down, asking why they feel down—if you help 10 Salvadorans, we will no longer be 30,000, we will be 300,000. And if each of them helps 10, we will be 3 million. And that way, that energy you have now, we can spread across all of El Salvador.
This event is called 'El Salvador Reborn,' and it's not just a slogan—the name that my friend Alejandro gave it—it is literal, because El Salvador is going to be reborn with you. We went from being the most dangerous country in the world to the most joyful country in the world, and we will become the most skilled country in the world. Not now, not tomorrow, but with your effort, we can achieve it. And this will be our old video, the video of when Salvadorans decided to move forward, strive, work, study, and get ahead. And something I want to highlight about this is that normally stadiums fill up for a soccer match, for a concert, but not for an educational event. But here the stadium is full of joyful energy, strength, and enthusiasm for an educational event.
I don't know if other countries have achieved this, I don't know, maybe. God bless them. But I want all the business leaders of the world, the multilaterals, the organizations, to see this human talent: young people who are not sad, young people with energy, eager to work, eager to study, eager to strive, eager to get ahead, eager to fulfill their dreams. Wouldn't you want this kind of people in your companies? Of course you would. They are the best people in the world, the Salvadorans. And here is a sample. Our youth went from fear to this. Security gave us back peace. Now you, with education, will win us the future. May God bless you all. May God bless El Salvador.
God bless you all, and long live El Salvador!
