The government is promoting equality of opportunity through its hi-tech educational project
Improving
educational standards by connecting the country’s 220,000 schools
to the internet is one of the key elements in President Vicente Fox’s
e-Mexico project. The government expects to achieve this goal by 2006,
with the underlying aim of giving more children the chance to go on
to further education.
While the vast majority of children attend school from the age of six
to 14, fewer than half of them go on to high school, and only 20 per
cent go on to further education.
The majority of students who reach university are from the middle and
upper-middle classes. Only three per cent of children from rural areas
go on to secondary education, and among the indigenous population, the
figure is barely one per cent.
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Reyes
Támez Guerra, the
Secretary of State for Education, says: “The main problem facing
Mexico in education is the lack of equality. Our primary goal is to
improve access to education.
“Another important programme is dedicated to guaranteeing the quality
of the educational system. We aim to achieve a quality of education
as high as that in countries in the developed world.”
It is not only the pupils that must be
trained, he says. Teachers and heads of schools must also be given training
in new technology and management, and programmes are being devised to
equip staff with the necessary techniques.
The government also awards scholarships
– some £680 million a year is allocated to around five million
students. But the scholarships do require students to provide something
in return.
“Students who are awarded scholarships are asked to work in social
service projects within their communities,” says Mr Támez.
“If they choose not to, they don’t receive their scholarships.”
Not only is the government throwing its
weight behind this key element of the e-Mexico project, a large number
of private sector companies and other organisations are supporting and
funding the programme. One of these is UNETE (the Entrepreneurs Union
for Technology in Education).
Set up in 1999 by a group of private companies and organisations, UNETE
has so far installed more than 1,000 computers in classrooms throughout
the country.
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“There
have been some very interesting results, as we have installed computers
in remote areas such as the Sierra Tarahumara and Guerrero where computers
are not only a tool for education in the classroom, but are a source
of global culture for the whole community as well,” says Rafael
Fernández Flores, the Director General of UNETE.
“We particularly want to go to areas
that have low educational standards, such as Chiapas or Oaxaca. There
are also a lot of urban areas which are very backward, even in Acapulco,
where many of the people who live there do not have the same education
as the tourists they see on the beach.”
Several universities and other institutes
have undertaken to maintain the computer equipment for free over a period
of five years. UNETE is therefore able to spend 92 per cent of its budget
on computers and just eight per cent on administration.
| Computers are not only a vital tool for education in the classroom, but can also be a key source of global culture for the community in deprived urban areas as well as in the poor rural districts |
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The
Tecnologico de Monterrey is a university with around 95,000 students
and 33 campuses, making it one of the largest universities in Latin
America. A private university founded in 1943, it offers a wide range
of degree courses including 42 MA and PhD courses, ranging from medicine
and engineering to computer science and food technology.
University President Rafael Rangel says
the e-Mexico project will enable the country to make a “qualitative
leap” in its educational standards. But he expresses concern about
the educational content that will be provided to communities.
The next challenge will be developing
the online content
“It is not only about putting in a
computer. It is about teaching the children how to use it, and that
has not yet been understood,” he says. “Everybody’s concerned
at the moment about how to connect these communities up; they haven’t
begun to worry about working on the content as yet.
“Obviously, the big problem is that
many communities do not have access to a computer, but the next problem
is: who will develop the content?”
Dr Rangel says the university has developed
its own model to make the most of e-education, but he adds: “I
think all the [digital community] centres should have a tutor to motivate
people and to teach them how to use computers.”
| Children need equal access to education |
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The
university has created a ‘virtual university’ for distance
learning, providing management, finance and other courses to local governments
and public institutions. With support from the World Bank Institute,
the university also provides distance learning courses for local governments
throughout Latin America.
Jorge Gutierrez Villarreal, the Dean of
IPADE, Mexico’s prestigious business school, mentions another benefit
of e-Mexico – the reinforcement of business ethics. IPADE has organised
seminars on e-Mexico and its effects on the economy. “We are the
first business school to have a full-time MBA programme in Mexico,”
Dr Villarreal adds.
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