Education in Mexico
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Overview
Mexico is located in North America, its education system offers compulsory primary and secondary education for all children ages 5 to 16. Its education budget is 24.3% of the national budget.
Today, children go to nursery school, followed by pre-primary school when they are five or six years old. They go to primary school between the ages of 6 and 12 and secondary school from 12 to 15. At 15, teenagers can go to preparatory school for three years and then to a Technological College or University.
Most children attend public schools, but there are also many private schools in Mexico, for all levels. Some children go to school in the morning from 8 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and some in the afternoon from 2 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. In most schools, children have to wear a school uniform.
The Ministry of Education provides free textbooks to every child of pre-primary, primary and first grade of secondary school. In some indigenous communities where the children are bilingual, primary school is taught both in Spanish and the local language (such as Nahuatl, Mayan, and Zapotec). Due to the large number of students, public schools have two timetables.
Historical context
Throughout most of Mexico's history, beginning with the colonial period, education was the task of the Catholic Church. After Independence (1810), Mexicans were concerned about the church imposing its values and beliefs on the population and started a public educational system. Religious influences of any sort were banned in primary school (grades one through six). The federal government controls the curriculum and provides the textbooks for primary schools.
Primary education
In some indigenous communities where the children are bilingual, primary school is taught both in Spanish and the local language (such as Nahuatl, Mayan, and Zapoteco). Today, children go to pre-school when they are five or six years old. Basic education, which includes one year of pre-school, six years of elementary and three years of lower secondary education, is compulsory and free. The Congress of the Union, with a vision of unifying and coordinating education throughout the Republic, issues necessary laws to distribute the social function of education among the Federation, the States. After that, they go to primary school between the ages of 6 and 12 and secondary school from ages 12 to 15. At 15, teenagers can go on to upper secondary education for three years and then to a Technological College or University. The first University on the American continent was founded in Mexico.
Secondary education and challenges
Today more than 8 million young people are enrolled in schools beyond the primary level, almost two million more than in 1994. Mexico has improved its literacy rate through public education programs, but rapid population growth has made it more difficult to reduce the absolute number of Mexicans who cannot read or write.
The Third Article of the Mexican Constitution establishes that the education imparted by the Federal State shall be designed to develop harmoniously all the faculties of the human being and shall foster in him at the same time civic values and a consciousness of international solidarity, in independence and justice. Freedom of religious beliefs being guaranteed by Article 24, education shall be maintained entirely apart from any religious doctrine and, based on the results of scientific progress, shall strive against ignorance and its effects, servitude, fanaticism, and prejudices.
Higher education
- The National Autonomous University of Mexico
- The National Polytechnic Institute
- The Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico
- The Ibero-American University
- The Metropolitan Autonomous University
At present time, there are 44 Public State Universities and Institutes in Mexico.
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