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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2008 - January 2009
World in View
Mexico teachers protest
Teachers by the tens of thousands in a number of states in Mexico--including Morelos, Oaxaca and Guerrero--have organized massive protests against the plans of the federal as well as the state governments to dismantle the education system known as the Normal schools. These teacher training schools, which are based primarily in rural areas, are a key educational support for rural populations. While students in the cities often have a number of choices where to go to school, in the rural areas, the Normals are often the only choice for those who want to become teachers and still live in their communities while studying. This state system of rural education has a decades-long history in Mexico.
The federal government and corrupt leaders of the teachers union--without consultation and negotiation with the teachers themselves--have come up with a program, Alliance for Quality Education, to "reform" the Normals. Reforms are needed to train teachers in an improved manner, and to end the practice of teachers selling their jobs or giving them to their children. The major thrust of the so-called "reform" is to implement a neo-liberal policy in rural education: to close the state Normal schools and create privatization of this educational system. There is no intent to institute authentic reform with input from teachers and students. Many students from the Normals have joined the protests.
--E.W.
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