Live
Audio Only
Another round of negotiations between dissident Mexican teachers and government officials has ended without an agreement after the Ministry of Education refused to call off plans to announce a new education model on Wednesday, a move the national union argued proves that authorities are not taking seriously their demands to cancel neoliberal education reforms, local media reported.
OPINION:
Mexico's Education Reform Is Being Imposed with Bloodshed
Leaders of the National Coordinator of Education Workers, better known as the CNTE, characterized the nearly six-hour meeting dedicated to discussing education issues on Tuesday as tense and without agreements, while Undersecretary of Basic Education Javier Treviño Cantu described it as “successful.”
The CNTE accused the government of waging a “two-lane manoeuvre” in which authorities continue holding talks with the national dissident union to manage the conflict — which reached fever pitch when police violently cracked down on protesters in Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, one month ago — while also plowing ahead with education policy plans that only take into account the opinions of the more government-friendly teachers union, the SNTE, La Jornada reported.
Both Education Minister Aurelio Nuño and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong failed to attend the meeting, according to EFE. Nuño has been recalcitrant throughout the negotiations, refusing to engage in dialogue with the CNTE unless the union accepts President Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2013 education reform. Osorio Chong, on the other hand, has attended previous sessions, though teachers have criticized his lack of political will and interest in the process.
According to members of the CNTE, the new education model Nuño is set to announce at 11:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday excludes the dissident union due to lack of consultation.
OPINION:
Mexico: State Terror, Education Reform and the Stock Exchange
Tuesday’s meeting was the second of a series of three sessions on political, educational, and social issues agreed to in negotiations last week. The next round of talks is set to go ahead as scheduled on Thursday.
Meanwhile, some 3,500 protesters took to the streets in Mexico City on Tuesday in support of the CNTE and marched to the Interior Ministry where they staged a sit-in for nearly 13 hours, La Jornada reported.
The march marked one month since teacher protests in Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, on June 19 erupted in violent confrontations with riot police that left at least 10 people dead.
Human rights organizations have slammed the government for committing a series of human right abuses during the repressive crackdown. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has urged authorities not to treat striking teachers with “disdain” and address the tragedy, Mexico’s Informador reported.
A 200,000-member national union, the CNTE demands that neoliberal education reforms — including mandatory teacher evaluations they slam as punitive and unresponsive to needs in rural areas — be cancelled in exchange for an overhaul to improve public education.
Newsletter
