Dissident Teachers Plan Citizen's Initiative to Change Education Reform Laws Laura Poy Solano - La Jornada
go to original October 31, 2016

A young child sits among his classmates at a school in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico (EFE)

Leaders of the National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers (CNTE) agreed to consult with its state organizations regarding carrying out a citizens' initiative to change the education reform laws [constitutional amendments and subsequent secondary (implementing) laws passed in 2013 and 2014]. The initiative would seek to eliminate the third and 73rd Articles of the Constitution which they see as punitive against teachers, including that teachers may be removed from the classroom if they fail three evaluations of their performance.

MV Note: A constitutional amendment passed in 2014 created the possiblity of "citizen's initiatives", by which registered voters may present legislative proposals directly to Congress which the Congress must consider if there are at least 100,000 valid signatures. Last year the first such citizen's initiative was presented, proposing that all elected and appointed officials be required to make public a "3of3" declaration of taxes paid, assets and possible conflicts of interest. The Congress passed a law that officials submit such declarations to the government, but they do not have to be made public.

The consideration by the CNTE to undertake a citizen's initiative is significant, as it is the first time the dissident teachers' group has considered undertaking a legislative route, beyond protests calling for the total "abrogation" of the reforms and "dialogues" with the Executive Branch demanding such abrogation.

Enrique Enriquez Ibarra, general secretary of the union section in Mexico City, reported that the representative national assembly determined that the initiative presented this week by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the Senate will not be what the CNTE will submit to consultation by its membership. Last Thursday, the president of the PRD, Alejandra Barrales, presented a bill to amend the educational reform and eliminate what injures the labor rights of teachers. The document was reviewed by a committee of the CNTE, but it considered that real education reform will not be attained through a political party.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: After Oaxaca, Mexico Education System Causes Inequality: Report (teleSUR)

Related: President Peña Regrets Cart Is Put Before Horse in National Education Reform (El Universal)

Related: Mexico to Cut Educational Spending in 2017 (teleSUR)

Related: Mexico's Education Reform Is Being Imposed with Bloodshed (teleSUR)

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