After Oaxaca, Mexico Education System Causes Inequality: Report

Early in Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto term Time magazine heralded him as the savior of the country due to his efforts to introduce a series of neoliberal reforms.

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One of the more controversial reforms, which also faced stiff resistance, was an effort to purportedly improve the quality of education in Mexico. In its radio and television ads, the government insisted the reform was aimed at improving quality.

From the very day the education reform was introduced, the militant National Coordinator of Education Workers, known as the CNTE, said it would do nothing to address the quality of education and was instead an intentionally misnamed labor reform aimed at firing teachers and breaking the union.

The crux of the so-called education reform was the implementation of a testing scheme on teachers to evaluate if they have the necessary skills to remain in their posts.

Instead, the union, whose membership tends to come from more rural and poorer parts of the country, called for changes that would improve education for students by dedicating more resources to students in need.

A new study by Dr. Manuel Gil Anton from the College of Mexico, one of the country's most prestigious graduate schools, confirms that the problem with the country's education system is that it is set up to actually perpetuate inequality.

Effectively the system is set up so that those who most need support and resources are those who receive the lowest quality education. 

According to Gil, Mexico's poorest have the worst learning conditions, the worst infrastructure, and some of the worst key indicators.

“By giving the same educational service to all, you are operating under the logic of equality, and equality within inequality generates greater inequality. So that's why equity, which is giving more to those who have less, is what is right,” said Gil at a presentation at the Ibero-American University this week.

The consequences of an inequitable system are serious.

According to the 2010 census, in Mexico there are 5.4 million illiterate people, over 10 million have not completed primary school, and 16.4 million have not completed secondary school. 

Mexico has a million students between the ages of six and 17 drop out of school every year, which Gil argues is tied to poverty in an outdated education model.

Worse still, those who do complete some or all of their studies — something that is supposed to be guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution — do not necessarily leave school having acquired the necessary learning skills. 

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, between 40 and 42 percent of Mexican students who complete nine years of schooling do not have the capacity to comprehend readings.

In Mexico, there is often a lot of talk about what to do about youth who do not study nor work, known as "ninis." Gil argues this is a misnomer as they do not have work or study opportunities available to them.

“People who do not have work or are not in school, and should be, have not done so not because they don't want to, but because the situation they are in does not allow it. It's fair to say they are out of school and out of work due to a deficiency of the system, instead of blaming those who are in that condition,” said Gil.

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For these reasons and more, Gil says any talk of education reform must include pedagogical changes and not limit itself to simple solutions, like teacher evaluations.

Peña Nieto's education reform did contemplate changes to the country's educational model but largely focused on alleged issues with teachers while largely ignored their input as it was being designed. 

Gil says teachers must be at the center of any effort to modify curriculum and pedagogy.

Earlier this year, Mexico's Interior Ministry conceded to a proposal to form a panel of education experts and teachers to evaluate the government's education plan.

After months of protest, including one incident where state security forces left nine dead in Oaxaca, teachers ended their strike and returned to the classroom on the condition that negotiations between the government and the union continue.