Bolivia to provide free digital diplomas for 221,000 students

President Rodrigo Paz Pereira has announced that more than 221,000 high school graduates in Bolivia will receive their diplomas free of charge in a digital format this year. The initiative aims to reduce the financial burden on families by eliminating the costs previously associated with issuing, legalizing, and printing these documents for university admissions.

The new digital diploma will feature a QR code to verify authenticity, allowing students to download and print the document as many times as needed without further legalization procedures. This change removes the need for students to pay approximately Bs 200 for legalization and related transport costs.

Under the new system, the central government will assume the issuance costs, which previously cost regional governments approximately Bs 11 million. The government estimates the operational cost of the digital system will be just over Bs 600,000, or roughly Bs 3 per diploma, with expectations that costs will decrease as the system is optimized.