Mexico gov't, teachers union to reform evaluation tests

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY (AA) – A controversial evaluation exam given to all teachers that has spurred violent protests for two months in Mexico will be revised, the government said Wednesday.

Secretary of Public Education Aurelio Nuno said his team and the national education workers union SNTE would present a revised evaluation within 45 days.

“We agreed to review teacher evaluation in order to improve it, to make it more relevant and more useful for the teachers of Mexico,” Nuno said during a press conference, adding that “sociocultural conditions” of each Mexican region will be considered.

The government was left scrambling after teachers affiliated with the CNTE teachers union – labeled as “radical” by the Mexican government – began an indefinite strike May 15.

The CNTE and SNTE are two opposing unions.

The CNTE has organized sit-ins, protests, blocked highway and set fire to public buildings in objection to the education reform that was implemented in 2013 and requires teachers to pass a mandatory test in order to keep their jobs.

Eight people were killed last month during a clash between police and striking teachers the southern state of Oaxaca.

The CNTE has yet to comment on the revised tests.

Earlier Wednesday, a representative of the Secretary of Interior held the first of three working group meetings with members of the CNTE union who want the entire 2013 law revoked but Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said Tuesday that the issue would “not be discussed” at subsequent meetings.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday.