Emily Nuez-Eddy

In September of 2012, the United Nations began a campaign known as the

Global Education First Initiative, a multi-faceted initiative aimed at improving
education worldwide. In accordance with goals listed in the Education for All initiative
and the Millennium Development Goals, the program uses three priorities to identify the
most prevalent issues facing education and addresses partners and resources used as well
as actions taken to combat these issues. In doing so, the initiative intends to make
significant strides towards the completion of all three priorities by 2017, marking the end
of the five-year initiative.
The first priority addressed by the Global Education First Initiative is to Put
Every Child in School by improving worldwide access to education. This first priority is
supported by the fact that an education, both primary and beyond, effects an individual, a
countrys, the worlds social, economic, and political progress significantly. The second
priority addressed by the initiative is to Improve the Quality of Learning, which aims to
challenge education standards worldwide to produce students who are critical thinkers
and lifelong learners, backed by motivated teachers with the resources to provide each
child with an education they deserve. Lastly, the third priority identified by the initiative
is to Foster Global Citizenship, following the idea that educated individuals are able to
contribute to a society that works in partnership with all other countries, from not only a
political and economic standpoint but from a social and inclusive one as well. These
priorities, as well as the Global Education First Initiative as a whole, parallel many of the
goals found in the Sustainable Development Goals (previously the Millennium

Development Goals), an agenda of issues compiled by the United Nations Development

Programme related to poverty and its relation to the development of society, economic
progress, and environmental issues education being among one of the top priorities.
Mexico is one of many countries throughout the world that have made significant
and notable advances in education over the past few decades. It has high percentages of
primary school enrollment and completion, increasing amounts of government
expenditure on education, continually improving qualities of education for all genders,
and an increasing labor force of individuals who progressed beyond primary school into
secondary education.
The first priority of the Global Education First Initiative is to increase access of
education both primary and secondary to all children. Mexico has not only steadily
increased primary school enrollment percentages over the last decade, from 101.1% in
2006 to 104.8% in 2013, but also significantly increased percentages of primary school
completion, from 92.7% in 2011 to 103.2% in 2013. These percentages are shown in the
graphs below. In accordance with the Global Education First Initiative, Mexico has
progressed significantly in providing education for all children nationwide by continually
improving education to be accessible, affordable, and gender-inclusive.

PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT RATE, TOTAL (% GROSS)

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRR/countries/1W?display=graph

PRIMARY COMPLETION RATE, TOTAL (% OF RELEVANT AGE GROUP)

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.CMPT.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

Going along with the second priority under the Global Education First Initiative,
Mexico is progressing well in ensuring that education within the country is of increasing
quality. The large majority of primary school teachers (95.6% in 2010) are trained in

accordance with the standards of that country. Secondly, the pupil-to-teacher ratio has
remained steady, hovering right around 28 pupils per teacher for the past ten years. The
steady pupil-teacher ratio shows that although enrollment rates have increased throughout
the country, additional teachers have been hired to ensure that students are receiving a
quality education in acceptable class-sizes. Lastly, the overall government expenditure on
education has increased from 4.7% to 5.1% since 2006, providing teachers, students, and
schools with training, resources, and materials to improve the quality of education
overall. Although the improvements to the quality of education in Mexico have been
minor in percentage increases, they have been stable enough over the past decade to
ensure continued growth and improvement.

TRAINED TEACHERS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION (% OF TOTAL TEACHERS):

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.TCAQ.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO, PRIMARY:

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRL.TC.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION, TOTAL (% OF GDP):

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

The third priority, being to foster global citizenship, is arguably one of the most
difficult categories to objectively analyze. Viewing Mexico from an environmental,

social, and economic standpoint, it has not progressed as significantly as education alone.
For example, the production of renewable energy has decreased in the past decade, from
15.8% to 15%. In addition, unemployment rates continue to rise (from 3.2% to 4.9%
between 2006-2013), despite an increase in enrollment and completion of primary,
secondary, and tertiary school. This increase means there continues to be a large and
growing percentage of educated individuals without employment in Mexico. Lastly,
despite improvements in education, the GDP per person employed has remained hovering
around $20,000 since 2007, depicting a lack in the improvement of economic quality of
life for employed peoples in Mexico, as well as an increasing poverty headcount ratio.
This being said, measuring global citizenship is difficult and is a conglomeration of many
economic, social, political, and environmental aspects, many of which take decades
following educational changes to become apparent. Based on Mexicos improvements of
the education system and enrollment/completion rates, it has a hopeful future in
advancing global citizenship through multiple means.

GDP PER PERSON EMPLOYED:

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD/countries/1W?
display=graph

RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY OUTPUT (% OF TOTAL ELECTRICITY OUPUT):

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.RNEW.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATIO AT NATIONAL POVERTY LINES (% OF

POPULATION):

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC/countries/1W?display=graph

UNEMPLOYMENT, TOTAL (% OF TOTAL LABOR FORCE):

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.MA.ZS/countries/1W?
display=graph

As a country labeled as developing, Mexico is doing just that in terms of

education and beyond, statistics show that Mexico continues to develop and improve
economically, socially, and politically, producing percentages comparable to first-world
countries such as the United States. In comparison to the Global Education First
Initiative, Mexico has undoubtedly began to improve their educational standards in
accordance with the three priorities listed and the goals outlined in the Sustainable
Development Goals. In progressing the quality of education and the percentage of those
receiving it nationwide, Mexico can ensure that their economic, political, and social
development will continue to follow suit.

WORKS CITED:
1. Education for All (EFA). (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015, from
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/efa/

2. Sustainable Development Goals. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015, from

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/

3. The World Bank - Education. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015, from
http://data.worldbank.org/topic/education

4. UN Global Education First Initiative United Nations Secretary General's Global

Initiative on Education Education First. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015.