Education in Mexico

The United Nations Global Education Initiative is made up of three priorities:

every child in school, quality of learning, and global citizenship. These three
priorities are set into place in order to ensure that all children throughout the world
have the opportunity to a quality education. In comparison to many countries,
Mexico is now reaching the three priorities set by the United Nations (UN) at an
alarming rate, thus providing a free high quality education for its citizens.
The education system in Mexico has implemented new policies and
regulations that allow for education to be mandatory. Under general law, it is
required for students to be enrolled in school from 5-15 years of age (Education in
Mexico, 2013). Students must complete at least the final level of pre-school
(equivalent to kindergarten), primary school and secondary school. This law also
states that children between the ages of 6-12 be enrolled in primary school, and
those between the ages of 12-15 be enrolled in secondary school. This fulfills the
basic mandatory requirements for the Mexican education system. Due to a recent
change in government policy, the Secretara de Educacin Pblica (SEP) now has
administrative duties in schools rather than the federal government (Education in
Mexico, 2013). This brought the education system to a more personal level as it
focuses more on student learning rather than test scores. Due to the mandatory age
of education is from 5-15, few students above the age of 15 move on to tertiary
education (equivalent to American high school). In fact, Mexico has had the lowest
enrollment from this age group despite its size (OECD, 2014). This, however, is
slowly staring to change. Since the year 2014, more and more students are
beginning to pursue higher education and enrolling in tertiary schools. Although we
are now seeing an increase in enrollment for higher education, the discrepancies

between male and female students is astounding. Female students are still not
enrolling at the same rate as males, but this too is on the rise. Mexico has recently
implemented the Inclusin Educativa (Inclusion in education) which states that
children of special needs cannot be discriminated against in a school setting. This
same law ensure that students with disabilities are to be taught by a general
education teacher along with a special education teacher (M. Cruz, personal
communication, April 3, 2016). This law does differentiate between mild and
complex disabilities. It states that students with complex disabilities are to attend
special schools with more qualified special education teachers. With laws of
inclusion, Mexico has successfully implemented the first priority of the UN Global
Education Initiative of every child in school.
All basic mandatory education in Mexico is free of cost to any and all students
wishing to enroll, la Constitucin Poltica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, en el
artculo 3, establece que la educacin es gratuita, por lo tanto no hay necesidad de
pagar para poder recibir educacin (M. Cruz, personal communication, April 3,
2016). This quote comes directly from a teacher in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico
which states that education is free of all costs due to Article 3 of the Mexican
Constitution. The SEP is also responsible for providing textbooks and other
classroom materials in order to provide the education required by the country. In
many cases, schools will require a small fee for those who are willing and can
contribute to the school. This can be similar to donations or fundraisers in the
American education system. When it comes to tertiary education and universities,
the SEP no longer provides the funding for the continuation of free education
(Education in Mexico, 2013). This results in most schools supervising their own
programs, budgets, and teaching personnel.

In order for Mexico to be in accordance to the United Nations Global

Education Initiative, it has had to implement many policies in order to improve the
quality of learning. Throughout the years, Mexico has had various reforms and
policies that allowed teachers to move easily through their teacher training. This
however, changed with the Reforma Educativa 2011 which states that teachers
have to recertify every 4 years in order to prove competency in education (M. Cruz,
personal communication, April 3, 2016). Teachers are also required to take an exit
exam. This ensure that every teacher in the classroom is sufficiently qualified to
improve the quality of education. With all of the changes and requirements that
aspiring and practicing teachers have to master, Mexico has risen with other
countries in the UN and is now spending more on teacher salaries and are currently
spending 86% of the education budget on teacher salaries (OECD, 2014). With an
increase in salaries and overall better working conditions, Mexico is on the right
track to fulfill the UN Global Education Initiative of improving the quality of learning.
In terms of fostering global citizenship, Mexico has done numerous things to
accomplish this goal. In order to foster this priority, Mexico now has 151
international schools (Education in Mexico, 2013). The system focuses on the
introduction of a second language for international students. English is the language
that is greatly encouraged among students taking classes through international
programs. Mexico has some improvement to make in this area as of today, but with
more requirements and policies being enforced in the education system daily, it is
only a matter of time until progress is made in establishing more examples of global
citizenship in the Mexican education system.
It is without a doubt that through hard work, Mexico has earned a spot among
the countries that have successfully implemented all three priorities of the UN

Global Education Initiative. With changes in policies and social reforms, Mexico can
expect much more improvement in its education system in the following couple of
years. The world will soon see that Mexico has the potential to grow in the
education field as successfully as many more developed countries.

References
Global Education First Initiative- Priorities. (n.d) Retrieved on April 3, 2016, from
http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/220.htm
OECD- Education at glance. (2014) Retrieved on April 3, 2016, from
https://www.oecd.org/edu/Mexico-EAG2014-Country-Note.pdf
World Education News and Reviews. (2013). Retrieved on April 3, 2016, from
http://wenr.wes.org/2013/05/wenr-may-2013-an-overview-of-education-in-mexico/