Public Education Secretary (SEP) Aurelio Nuño Mayer assured that the Education Reform will not be impacted by the budgetary cuts of 2017 and that adjustments will be made to spending. He said this after denying that the SEP had reached an agreement with the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE).
After meeting with the Board of Directors of the Business Coordination Council, Nuño Mayer added that the central programs of the Education Reform will remain untouched.
“We will work first to maintain the priorities of the Education Reform,” he said. “This means we will focus on paying teachers and make reductions in bureaucratic costs in order to maintain the central programs of the Education reform.”
He denied that the government had reached any understanding with the CNTE and that, consequently, that was why teachers were returning to classes next week.
“The federal government has made no such agreement with the CNTE of Chiapas or with any other party that remains in opposition to the Education Reform. This is completely false. These are stories that the CNTE has been telling to distract the public,” he said. “I’m not going to comment, but I have heard it, and it is completely false.”
Nuño Mayer praised the private sector’s support of the education changes in Mexico and that their support has helped maintained control in face of the CNTE’s protests when the authorities were unable to.
He reiterated that there is an opening for dialogue with the CNTE, but that the SEP will remain firm with respect to the law, meaning that there will soon be a distribution of termination notices to teachers who missed more than three days of school.
ROSALBA AMEZCUA