Mexico passes sweeping education reforms

This post is also available in: Spanish

Education has been very much in the news in Mexico this past week. On Monday, February 25th, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law a sweeping reform that will shift power to hire, assign and promote teachers from the teachers union to the government.

The next day, the government arrested the powerful head of teachers’ union, Elba Esther Gordillo, on charges of embezzling more than $100 million from the union. Few had expected the government to propose and achieve such far-reaching reforms. Fewer expected it to arrest Gordillo, possibly the most powerful labor leader in Latin America.

See the links below for media coverage of these developments.

• “México: Peña Nieto promulga una profunda reforma educativa sin aval del sindicato.” 25 de febrero. Infolatam.
• “Analysis: Mexico’s much-needed education reform faces hurdles.” 26 de febrero. Por Alexandra Alper y Lizbeth Diaz, Reuters.
• “Powerful Mexican Teachers’ Leader Accused of Embezzlement.” 27 de febrero. Por Randal C. Archibold y Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times.
• “México: Detenida Elba Esther Gordillo, líder del poderoso sindicato de maestros de México.” 27 de febrero. Infolatam.
• “De la coyuntura al cambio sistémico.” 28 de febrero. Por Claudio X. González Guajardo, Mexicanos Primero.