UNICEF Finds Indigenous Children Face Greatest Educational Inequality in Mexico Laura Poy Solano - La Jornada | |
go to original May 10, 2015 |
Indigenous children at Benito Juárez Bilingual Elementary School in Santa María Acapulco (Cristina Rodríguez)
Mexico shows real progress on the coverage of primary education, improvements in the equality of girls and boys regarding access to education and increased enrollment in primary education. However, when these achievements are analyzed by state and by town at the municipal level [municipalities are the governmental unit of states; a municipality is made up of several towns], "we find differences. The city is generally doing well, but rural areas do not reach these same levels."
Carmen López, head of the Education Program at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), declared that Mexico still faces delays in such vulnerable population segments as the children of indigenous, migrants and day-workers, but also with regard to disabled children and children of African descent.
MV Note: During the colonial period, Africans were brought as slaves to work on plantations (sugar, hemp, cotton, pineapple) along the banks of rivers in what are today the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Veracruz.
According to figures from UNICEF, there are over 40 million children and adolescents in Mexico. Of these, 26.6 percent live in rural areas. More than 4.4 million children are indigenous, a segment that faces the greatest inequalities in exercising their right to education. As López pointed out, "not only does it consist of complying with the required number of hours in school, but that they can actually acquire new learning, which is always to be achieved."
In its recently released report, Achieving Millenial Objectives with Fairness: A View From Childhood and Adolescence in Mexico, UNICEF warns that the under-18 population living in poverty is 21.2 million; that is, 53.8 percent of children and young Mexicans. Of these, 16.4 million live in moderate poverty, and 4.7 million live in extreme poverty. The report emphasizes that:
Read the rest at Mexico Voices
Related: Mexico: Lower Salaries for Teachers in Indigenous Schools - Government Report (Mexico Voices)
Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx
We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!
From activities like hiking, swimming, bike riding and yoga, to restaurants offering healthy menus, Vallarta-Nayarit is the ideal place to continue - or start - your healthy lifestyle routine.