Translated by Alise Rule
With the Mexican National Union of Education Workers “crouching down” and fearful of suffering “new arrests” of leaders, specialists in the education sector believe that this 15th of May, Teachers' Day, the first with Elba Esther Gordillo in prison [arrested in February on embezzlement charges],
“will be just as disastrous as the ones in past years: nothing indicates that there will be a positive change.”In interviews, César Navarro, professor at the José María Mora Institute, and Juan Manuel Rendón, ex-president of the Benemérita National School of Teachers, affirmed that
“no advancement was made at all” in the democratization of the teachers union, “while the public policy [education reform] that looks to expand in the sector is one more step towards the disappearance of teachers who are critical of the social model.”In separate interviews, they both affirmed that
“a blow was dealt to the head of the leadership, but the mechanisms of corruption that have operated for the control of teaching for decades were left intact.”Navarro emphasized that May
“has become the time of year when farce and aggression against teachers are increased, because traditionally a minimal salary increase is announced and regressive and privatizing programs are put into place, like the Alliance for the Quality of Education and Universal Evaluation.”He warned that
“rarely has May been as detrimental to teachers as in 2013, when we face the attack of a labor reform that is not educational, with a union that is totally weakened and at the orders of what the federal government needs.”For his part, Rendon affirmed that with a salary raise
"that is meager and a union leader on her knees, we are faced with one of the most complex scenarios for teachers in decades.”He assured that they are not only faced with the “imposition” of the federal administration on education.
"This time", he added, "even political forces, businesspeople and the clergy have strengthened a common front against public education. That is the scenario we have to face.”Spanish original