Written by Ivel Sestopal
Mexico is facing an educational crisis; it is well known in Mexican society that many things are lacking inside the educational system. Besides the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) demanding better institutions to attend to the educational reality of the country, there has been a lot of pressure from other Institutions to attend to the issue. It is a country in development that depends economically on other countries and has a difficult social reality where corruption and drug dealing are a reality and it has been normalized in society.
The main issues in Mexican education have to do with poor quality, insufficient coverage at some levels, and high dropout rates in levels beyond primary[i]. For instance, Mexico is a country that has a lot of cultural diversity as well as socio-economic issues that have created a huge gap between social classes. This reality has forced children to drop out of school and help their family, in some cases, forced to work with cartels creating dropouts and breaking the educational dynamic for children and youth which is problematic due to the fact that upper secondary attainment is a minimum qualification for most of the labor market. 44% of young adults left school without an upper secondary qualification in comparison with the 14% of the OECD partner countries.[ii]
This article highlights four major challenges to education that are seen in Mexico.
Education coverage and diversity
One of the main challenges is that Mexico doesn’t guarantee education to most of the citizens. With 43.9% of the population living in poverty,[iii] it has become a challenge for people living in marginalized zones to access education due to a lack of transport, materials, and health problems.
Most indigenous communities often have to travel for hours to reach the nearest school further highlighting the issue that there haven’t been enough schools built in these rural areas, putting rural and indigenous students at a disadvantage since they have to leave their communities and encounter many difficulties to further their education[iv].
Since public education is funded by the federal state, the budget given to states is not always coherent with the necessities of each one. For example, a state with less infrastructure and bigger demand if books might have less budget than one that is located at the center of a city which deepens the inequality of education between states with respective needs or considerations[v]. For example, the state of Baja California and Mexico State contributes 40% of the total education budget through state funds[vi], being a clear example of budget inequality.
Gender and Indigeneity Inequality
Mexican culture especially in the most marginalized places is attached to the belief of women confining themselves to their homes taking care of the children and other home related tasks because of which Mexican girls are more likely than boys to drop out of school denying them not only access to basic levels of education but also to access higher levels of education.
Child marriage is still a custom in most Mexican communities and 83% of married Mexican girls leave school[vii].
There is also an existing inequality in the access to education for indigenous communities in which the system and programs are not designed for their customs or even language. Some of the courses are not even suitable for the way of life of these children as it does not take into consideration the different backgrounds that these children come from.
Management inside the educational system
School in Mexico is organized by public and private education, the public is based on state authority and school administrators but there are no decisions that involve the important stakeholders such as parents and students. There is an institution called SEP (Secretary of Public Education) that sets all major guidelines about public schools and is characterized by a lack of transparency and accountability for the correct application of financial resources[viii], limiting the access to information and analysis of the development of public schools.
Parents and teachers have been protesting against the institution and demanding an investigation due to the sale of plazas and acts of corruption. The sale of plazas is the action of one teacher selling his position to another person in exchange for money, due to the lack of efficiency in registration for being a teacher in public schools and due to the corrupted system people can buy their place into the school.
In some cases, these people are not even qualified to teach. Teachers who aspire to be assistant principals, directors, pedagogical technical advisors, and general supervisors understand that they have three ways to achieve these. Buying the place. By influences. Or through the political favor of the current ruler.[ix]
Lack of resources or investment in educational infrastructure
Schools located in marginalized places and even public schools located in the city present unfavorable conditions and infrastructure which diminishes the well-being and the opportunities for knowledge denying the right to quality education for the students. There is also a lack of surveys conducted for schools, teachers, and alumni on basic education indicators to improve infrastructure based on the deficits identified[x]. This causes a backlash for the students to grow with their educational level and creates a more distinguished barrier between public and private schools.
Another example is the lack of classrooms for students, especially in schools located in rural areas which are mainly indigenous students with present a higher number of students than classrooms[xi].
In terms of learning materials, only 43.3% of schools count libraries or spaces with scholarly books whereas only 22% of indigenous schools have these materials. And this is not only seen in public schools, but it can also surprise us that almost one-third of all private schools in Mexico lack a library[xii].
It poses a challenge for children and young people to learn with an absence of basic materials for education and becomes difficult for them to keep evolving in their education when there is no access to technologies in such a globalized world where 1.7% of them have access to the Internet and only 7% have a computer.[xiii]
The Mexican education system cannot develop and strengthen itself if it keeps having corrupted individuals working within the educational system. In addition, the difference of education between private and public, rural and urban creates more bridges between access and quality of education. It is going to deepen and cause more inequality between individuals in Mexican society.
We can see clear evidence between the budget that is being expended in some states for education in comparison with the ones that are more centralized to the city. However, access to technologies and materials for everyone regardless of their environment is essential. Mexico will have to assess these issues in order to show better results with the international community as well as with the obligation it has to its citizens for access to free and quality education for all.
[i] Santibanez, L., Vernez, G., Razquin, P. (2005). Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities. RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB480.html
[ii] OECD (2022), “Mexico”, in Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/a842076d-en
[iii] CONEVAL (2020). Medición de la Pobreza. Retrieved from: https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/Paginas/PobrezaInicio.aspx
[iv] Santibanez, L., Vernez, G., Razquin, P. (2005). Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities. RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB480.html
[v] Santibanez, L., Vernez, G., Razquin, P. (2005). Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities. RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB480.html
[vi] Santibanez, L., Vernez, G., Razquin, P. (2005). Education in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities. RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB480.html
[vii] International Community Foundation. (2022). 4 Barriers to quality educatoin in the Mexico School System. Retrieved from: https://icfdn.org/barriers-quality-education-mexico/
[viii] Mejia Guevara, I., Giorguli Saucedo, S. (2014). Public Educatoin in Mexico: Is all the spending for the benefit of children?. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269402290_Public_Education_in_Mexico_Is_all_the_Spending_for_the_Benefit_of_Children
[ix] Noticias Reportero. (2021) Corrupción en la SEP, ascensos al mejos postor. Retrieved from: https://noticiasreportero.com.mx/2021/10/18/corrupcion-en-sep-ascensos-al-mejor-postor/
[x] Miranda Lopez, F. (2018). Infraestructura escolar en México: brechas traslapadas, esfuerzos y límites de la política pública. Perfiles educativos, 40(161), 32-52. Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-26982018000300032&lng=es&tlng=es.
[xi] Miranda Lopez, F. (2018). Infraestructura escolar en México: brechas traslapadas, esfuerzos y límites de la política pública. Perfiles educativos, 40(161), 32-52. Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-26982018000300032&lng=es&tlng=es.
[xii] Miranda Lopez, F. (2018). Infraestructura escolar en México: brechas traslapadas, esfuerzos y límites de la política pública. Perfiles educativos, 40(161), 32-52. Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-26982018000300032&lng=es&tlng=es.
[xiii] Miranda Lopez, F. (2018). Infraestructura escolar en México: brechas traslapadas, esfuerzos y límites de la política pública. Perfiles educativos, 40(161), 32-52. Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-26982018000300032&lng=es&tlng=es.
No comment yet, add your voice below!