President of the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education, Sylvia Irene Schmelkes (contactohoy.com.mx)

The performance of the education system came under criticism by the president of the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INEE).

Sylvia Irene Schmelkes told a conference in Zacatecas last week that there are 4 million Mexican children aged three to 14 years who don’t attend school. She said the country is not offering the same quality of education to all its children, due to a large difference between what is offered in urban areas compared to rural and idigenous areas.

Schmelkes observed that 1.7 million children aged three do not attend the first year of preschool, in large part because many schools don’t offer that class despite having been required to do so constitutionally since 2008.

As for the lack of attendance by older students, poverty has been identified as a factor and the need to work rather than study.

The INEE president also brought up education quality: 41% of students aged 15 are failing in reading, 55% are failing in mathematics and 47% in science, results that have been gathered through international testing.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

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