Today was supposed to be the first day of school in Mexico, but not for most in Oaxaca. According to Sección 22 of the CNTE (teachers’ union), 90% of public schools did not open today. The Instituto Estatal de Educación Pública de Oaxaca (the government’s Institute of Public Education) puts the number at 52% of public schools in the state that remained closed.
Classrooms may have remained empty, but from the Monumento a Juárez to the Plaza de la Danza, teachers and their allies filled several of the main streets of the state’s capital in a mass march that took over an hour and a half to pass –part of the ongoing protests against the federal government’s education/labor reform.
Today, there are no winners, only losers — the kids. The weather provided a metaphor for the day — grey and depressing.
While not specific to Oaxaca, a new documentary by Al Jazeera, Child labour in Mexico, adds some context to the issue of education in Mexico, especially in the poorer regions of Mexico. At 16:36, the focus of the conversation turns to relating child labor to the problems of education, corruption, and poverty.
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Good luck to them!
Nothing yet resolved, rumors are flying, and nerves are frayed. Hoping for a good outcome, soon!