According to SEP (n.d.), Mexico’s constitution and the general education law recognize the diverse culture, ethnicity and languages in the indigenous students. Policy makers have tried to design and adapt a bilingual curriculum, text books and didactic materials (SEP, n.d.). One of the more relevant attempts to include those groups in the MES, is the creation of the indigenous education program (educacion indigena,) which facilitates access training programs for bilingual teachers who speak the same languages in the children’s communities (SEP, n.d.). As described by the SEP (n.d.), the indigenous population are the most vulnerable group in Mexico.
According to the Consejo Nacional de Poblacion (2015), a committee that supplies statistic data in Mexico (CONAPO); 7 382 785 Mexicans speak an indigenous language; they represent the 6.5% of the total population. Currently, there are over 68 languages with 364 variations spoken throughout the country, Náhuatl and Maya are the most spoken (INEGI, 2016).
Another relevant program that address the disadvantaged populations are the compensatory programs (Programas compensatorios) which are aimed to educate indigenous and migrant children (Juarez, 2015). The creation of the Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo (CONAFE) in 1973, which is the institution in charge to provide primary education to small remote rural communities (Juarez, 2015). For many children, CONAFE is the only mean to have access to primary education; nevertheless, this doesn’t imply that children receive quality education; the teachers in CONAFE, called instructors are secondary education graduates aged 14 to 24 years old who live in these communities (Juarez, 2015).
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As Juarez (2015) points out there is a problem in the supply of education opportunities in these communities; the system hasn’t been able to integrate qualified teachers in the program due to the low remuneration provided. The instructors earn a month salary of approximately $140 USD, which is considerable lower in comparison to teachers in regular schools, they also get scholarships for their own studies as remuneration (Juarez, 2015). According to Juarez (2015), there is a presence of absenteeism of the instructors, but the parents do not complain to the authorities because they think this can provoke that the instructors will never come back.
As SEP (n.d) points out, one of the priorities for education stakeholders in Mexico is the education of the marginalized to break the inequity cycle in Mexico’s schools. As a response to the low educational outcomes of the most disadvantaged a series of programs were created (PARE, PIARE and PAREB) to support the most marginalized schools, including indigenous communities from basic to tertiary education. Those programs are focalized in the poorest locations in Mexico (mostly in the states in the south). Those programs are applied with the support of CONAFE (SEP, n.d.).
Another relevant program The Dignified Schools Programme (Programa Escuelas Dignas, 2013) aims to improve the infrastructure of schools, including the learning environments and adequate furniture and equipment. This program allocates resources and the funding from the federal government and the school community is then responsible for its maintenance. (OECD, 2013). When it comes to cash transfer programmes (Programa de Becas de Media Superior, PROBEMS and Programa Nacional de Becas y Financiamiento, PRONABES), aim to support and retain students with low socioeconomic status in secondary and tertiary education (OECD, 2013)
Telesecundarias was a program that aimed to provide secondary education to remote rural communities. The telesecundaria project (lower secondary school learning with television support) was launched in as a means of extending lower secondary school learning with television support to remote and small communities (Santos del Real & Carvajal, 2001). After its creation in 1968, it remains as a relevant program that reaches students with limited educational opportunities.
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Another relevant initiative is the programme Constructing Yourself (Construye T), the programme encourages students to stay in upper secondary and reduce the risk of social exclusion. Constructing your self includes teacher training, support to prepare a diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses and guidance for students. It has been implemented in almost 33% of schools by the Ministry of Education, assisted by UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO (OECD, 2013).
The program for digital inclusion and literacy (Programa de Inclusión y Alfabetización Digital) is a program that was created by the federal government and sponsored by the private sector to supply children 5th grade children with electronic devices (Cardenas, n.d). The aim of this project was to incentive the use of IT and access digital contents in schools but also in the children’s homes who don’t have access to computers. Approximately 1 million electronic tablets and 240,000 laptops were supplied from 2013 to 2016 (Cardenas, n.d.). Mexico connected (México Conectado) is a program from the SEP that takes internet access to all the schools nationwide; it aims to provide students and teachers with free efficient internet connection and to incentive the use of IT in education (SCT, n.d.).
Mexico has signed in in the agenda for education 2030 and has actively participated in its implementation. Some of its measurements is the creation of the committee specialized for the sustainable development (Comité Técnico Especializado en Desarrollo Sostenible), giving the federal government and INEGI the responsibility to lead the actions in the agenda 2030 (UN, n.d.) Another step taken was the creation of a development plan to implement the SDGs (UN, n.d.). One of the most recent and ambitious steps taken in the educational policies in Mexico was The Pact for Mexico (2012) and the Reform of the Mexican Constitution (2013). Those consolidated commitments in education and culminated in the creation of a new law that aims to clarify selection, recruitment, training, promotion and evaluation for teachers. (OECD, 2013).
Part of this new constitution reform involved the implementation of an extensive curricular reform in 2012, the Comprehensive Reform of Basic Education (Reforma Integral de la Educación Básica, RIEB) which introduced learning standards focused on competencies to improve student achievement (OECD, 2013). Mexico has also introduced a teacher evaluation system designed to raise teaching quality; as OECD (2013) points out, the system aims for equity and inclusion, and there is growing pluralism of stakeholders involved.
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