Mexican Teachers Launch Massive Protests Against Education Law

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Monday that controversial teacher evaluations will move forward as planned, despite widespread opposition from the CNTE the country’s largest teachers union.

“The teacher evaluation process will go ahead; it is neither postponed, nor deferred, nor cancelled. Let there be no confusion, this government will implement its structural reforms,” Peña Nieto said Tuesday.

The CNTE announced at a press conference it is holding a protest in the Mexican capital Wednesday, which it expects will draw thousands of members. In response, Mexican authorities say they will deploy over 2,500 police officers in efforts to control the protests.

Peña Nieto’s government had initially agreed to suspend teacher evaluations last May, but backtracked two days later, when the ruling PRI party’s national leader, Cesar Camacho Quiroz, stated that the suspension had only been temporary.

In its initial response, the CNTE staged a series of nation-wide strikes demanding the permanent repeal of Mexico’s Education Reform law that introduced teacher evaluations tests.

The CNTE is opposed to the evaluation of teachers in particular, arguing that it will be used as an excuse for mass layoffs of its members.

CNTE spokesperson Eugenia Equihua told La Razon in the lead-up to Wednesday’s protests, "The teachers evaluation will not be carried out and we will expand our effort against the education reform. Now more than ever; considering the government’s aspirations to continue with the teacher assessments.”

The education reform, which was partially introduced in 2014, included a constitutional change to create an autonomous teacher assessment body, the National Education Evaluation Institute. However, those in opposition to the reforms say the national body should not be applying a one-rule-fits-all approach.

"The teacher evaluations are not bound to any legal criterion or pedagogy that we apply in our schools. We have our own mechanism for evaluation,” said Equihua.

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