Carriles del Eje 1 Oriente of the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, in Mexico City became a classroom for the second time. This is after teachers and families decided to demand that the facilities of the school they are part of not close their doors.
With tents and tables on the asphalt, teachers prepared to give classes on roads this March 15, so this is the second day that students from the Cristóbal Colón Elementary School take classes on the street as a form of protest.
According to information given to the media, for a year there has been a dispute with the property currently occupied by the school, so it no longer belongs to the Ministry of Public Education and they have not been able to use the campus, which was previously closed like other institutes, as part of the contingency measures due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
Thus, educators and parents commented that they have been offered to relocate children to other schools or continue with distance classes.
Children carried out their activities as if they were within the campus: resolution of sums, subtractions, readings and “physical education” in Axis 1 Oriente Anillo Circunvalación, at the height of Corregidora street, Colonia Centro. In the middle of the stage, teachers can be seen carrying a cartel on their backs with the message: “Sorry for the inconvenience but we don't have anywhere to take classes and we don't have enough money to do it online.”
Thus, educators, educators and parents commented that they have been offered to relocate children to other schools or continue with distance classes. The problem is that according to their complaints, they cannot access either of the two options that the authorities give them, since according to what they report, other schools are too far away or do not have internet or computers or tablets, so that children can continue online.
On its Facebook account, the school indicated that taking classes on the street was only for this occasion, to demand that they be provided with school facilities.
Organizations such as the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) and the World Bank emphasize that the educational and training backwardness of human capital caused by the pandemic will have impacts on Mexico's economic and social development.
According to IMCO and based on data from the Inter-American Development Bank, that prior to the start of the 2021-2022 school year in Mexico, at least 628,000 students between the ages of six and 17 dropped out due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
Although there are no updated data, the report by the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) ibMain Figures of the National Education System 2016-2017 indicated that in Mexico, more than 4 million children and adolescents do not attend school, while 600,000 more are at risk of leaving school due to various factors such as lack of resources, remoteness from schools and violence. In addition, children who do go to school have a low use of the content provided in compulsory basic education.
In addition, the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INEE) carried out an evaluation that covered 31 states of the Republic (except Oaxaca), for which 1,425 schools were visited and 1,222 principals, 3,144 teachers, 156 community instructors, 58,587 students and 1,411 parents were surveyed, as well as found major basic shortcomings within the campuses, such as lack of toilet bowls, implementation of the updated curriculum.
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