Status of Education in Mexico

Global Educations First Initiative three priorities are to: put every child in school,

improve the quality of learning, and to foster global citizenship. I would like to give feedback on

how well Mexico is doing at meeting the UN Global Initiative priorities. Mexico has had a

major issue with education for quite some time. A lot of people blame it on Mexico being a

poverty nation and not be able to fulfill the needs the students need to get a full education. This

is why after the year 2000; Mexico has really been pushing to strengthen its educational program

using the three priorities set up by the Global Educations First Initiative. The government and

board have come together to set up a plan.

Previous to setting up a plan, Mexico is very segregated within its educational system.

Those who come from wealthy backgrounds are put into private schools with access to all

learning materials compared to those from rural areas are less fortunate and do not have full

access to learning materials and even running water. The first step to help get kids into school

was set up by President Ernesto Zedillo who created PROGRESA, which is to help provide

financial aid for those in need. PROGRESA is able to give the students in need access to

learning materials, any uniforms they may need, and even help with healthcare that some

students may need. During this period Mexico was even able to raise money to create new

schools and even send out new textbooks to schools in need to ensure that everyone in primary

schooling was obtaining the same learning material. With such impact of PROGESA, it was

able to get about 90% of children into schools from what was previously around 50%. So

currently with adopting the Global Education First Initiative program Mexico is in a positive

direction by getting every children into school.

(Pictured above shows the increase in enrolment rates since PROGRESA began.)

In addition to getting every kid into school, Mexico is also on the rise of raising their

quality of education. During the same terms of PROGRESA (as mentioned earlier), not only

was it able to help get kids in to school but for every peso the government spent it increased its

spending by 25 cents. They helped create new schools and provide new materials to students.

Because most of Mexicos rural areas are poor, many kids went to schools with no adequate air

conditioning systems or even running water, but since PROGRESA was put into place now

those kids who are not brought up by the wealthy have a much better opportunity to learn in

environments that are now modern with new facilities and up to date learning materials.
(Above shows the different poverty levels in each state in Mexico to relate to school areas that

are suffering the most.)

Education on the global scale for Mexico is actually very good. Mexico is the United

States third largest trading partner and is also the epicenter for business in Latin America. As a

Mexican Citizen you are only required by law to attend school for basic education which does

not include higher learning over the age of 12 or even preschool. This does create a barrier for

teachers to better educate their students on a global scale, however, Mexico has built many

colleges that attract many foreigners to come learn about their culture and how they are able to

have such major impacts on trade. Also because Mexico has such a rich background of

Catholicism, it also is able to attract many others to come to school in Mexico to learn about

their cultures to spread all over.

It is quite clear that Mexico is trying to improve their educational program but there are

still some big hurdles that they need to overcome. I believe that with the support of the UN
Global Initiative priorities, Mexico is on their way to become a very strong country and to one

day have a great educational program.