Women teachers in Mexico protest new restrictive education law

Womens News Network 
Katherine Ronderos
October 3, 2013

Excluded from the debate on educational reform, women teachers in Mexico, who represent more than 96 percent of teachers in preschool, 66 percent in basic education and 51 percent in secondary school, are protesting against a new law that will affect them negatively, especially those working in rural and indigenous communities.

Mainly women teachers in the states of Veracruz, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas (Mexico) went on strike while more than 30,000 teachers from some of the country’s poorest states moved into Mexico City and set up camp in the Zócalo, the city center, for three weeks in September. They are protesting en masse after the government pushed through “secondary” laws aimed at reforming the Education Act, in particular aspects related to teachers’ careers. They are demanding that the government moderate its education reforms.  Read more.