Page 18 - MIN ON 5 SEPT 2015
P. 18
WORLD NEWS A11
Saturday 5 September 2015
Officials wrench control of schools from Mexico unions
PETER ORSI from unions who often de- Children line up during the first day of school in Oaxaca, Mexico. The scene is anything but
Associated Press termined hiring, firing and
OAXACA, Mexico (AP) — promotions. In many plac- normal in Oaxaca, a Mexican state where teachers’ strikes and protests cost the average
It looked like a normal first es teaching jobs were sold,
day of school at Patria Li- or even inherited. student 50 days out of the 200-day academic calendar last year, according to federal
bre elementary. Uniformed Officials say thousands of
kids sporting brand-new non-existent teachers were education officials. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Cruz Hernandez)
backpacks with their fa- receiving paychecks and
vorite cartoon characters the government acknowl-
— Dora the Explorer, Hello edged it wasn’t even sure
Kitty, the “Frozen” heroines how many schools it was
— reunited with classmates administering.
and sang the national an- The main national union
them. bowed to the reform —
But that’s far from normal in at least after its long-time
Oaxaca, a Mexican state leader, who had balked at
where teachers’ strikes and the changes, was impris-
protests cost the average oned on corruption charg-
student 50 days out of the es.
200-day academic calen- But radical offshoots in
dar last year, according to Oaxaca and other states
federal education officials. rebelled against the re-
Year after year, protesting form, and against its de-
teachers have blocked mand that teachers take
highways and cut off oil exams to test their ability.
refineries. Residents of the In late July, Oaxaca Gov.
capital have fled rocks Gabino Cue finally bucked
and tear gas from clashes the powerful local branch
with police. And the city’s known as Section 22 by
colonial plaza, one of the taking away its dominance
most picturesque in Mexi- of the state’s education in-
co, is often filled with tent stitute, where it had con-
camps of demonstrators trolled 80 percent of the
instead of tourists. posts. Some 300 union loy-
“Every year there has been alists were fired from the in-
a strike. ... I’ve seen my kids stitute, which is now run by
falling behind, and we’ve government appointees
had to support them at under a round-the-clock
home so they can learn,” police guard.
said Claudia Rodriguez The institute now can
Sosa, a 33-year-old mother dock salaries and even fire
of three students from pre- teachers who have more
to high school. than three unexcused ab-
Some parents say teach- sences, crippling Section
ers threatened not to pass 22’s ability to stage sus-
their children if they didn’t tained strikes.
support the union, whose “They can still protest, but
demands ranged from only as long as it doesn’t
higher pay to the resigna- disrupt the rule of law,”
tion of a former governor. said the institute’s new di-
Now that seems to be rector, Moises Robles.
changing as a national “They will have to figure
education reform pushed out how to march in the
by President Enrique Pena early mornings, on week-
Nieto takes root in the last ends, when they’re not on
strongholds of resistance the clock.”
by teachers’ unions. Authorities say almost all
The overhaul enacted last Oaxaca schools opened
year was meant to wrest on time, with no major
control over Mexico’s problems two weeks into
struggling schools away the school year.q
