Mexico: Dissident teachers march in Mexican capital
Mexico City – Members of Mexico's militant CNTE teachers union held a march in this capital on Friday to protest the education overhaul enacted three years ago by the government of
Teachers affiliated with the CNTE, which has more than 200,000 members, have been on strike since mid-May to demand the repeal of the 2013 reform, which includes regular evaluations of teachers and ends longstanding union privileges.
Participants in Friday's mobilization in Mexico carried placards with messages such as "I don't fear evaluation, I reject corruption," and "No to the privatization of education."
The union, which is strongest in Oaxaca, Michoacan, Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico's poorest states, says the evaluations are punitive because they fail to take into account that schools in rural areas often lack electricity and even textbooks.
"We are struggling to make our rights count," Gabriela Gutierrez, a teacher and CNTE member from Oaxaca, told EFE.
"We disagree with how the government sets out educational reform, as they want better schools, but there is poor infrastructure in the classrooms," she said.
Teachers were joined on the march by members of the SME electrical workers union and activists from grassroots organizations.
On Wednesday, the CNTE ended a week-long blockade of the freight rail network in the western state of Michoacan. The union branches in Oaxaca and Chiapas earlier blocked highways in those states until the shutdown started causing shortages of food and fuel.
After months of ignoring the CNTE's demands for dialogue, the Peña Nieto administration agreed to talks after eight people were killed on June 19 when federal police opened fire on protesting teachers in Nochixtlan, Oaxaca.
Those discussions, however, have yet to produce any progress.