Photo: Iglesia El Olivo

By MARK LORENZANA

In the new “Basic Education Curricular Plan” of Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), high school students in Mexican public schools must learn in their civics subject the infrastructure works carried out by the government, which political party has promoted these works and if they were part of previous campaign promises.

These are just a few examples of what teachers should expect to be imparting to their students under Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) so-called Fourth Transformation (4T), based on the provisions of the SEP’s “Curricular Framework and Study Plan 2022,” which is available on the SEP website and will be applied initially as a pilot plan in 1,000 public schools throughout Mexico.

Other “guide questions” that teachers are supposed to ask high school students include “how satisfied is the population with the Fourth Transformation?” and “what could be improved within the Fourth Transformation?”

López Obrador’s 4T is his 2018 campaign promise to supposedly do away with “privileged abuses” that have “plagued Mexico in decades.” AMLO defined the first three transformations as the Mexican War of Independence (1810 – 1821), the Reform War (1858 – 1861) and the Mexican Revolution (1910 – 1917).

It was earlier reported that the SEP, under its new head, Leticia Ramírez, presented a “new study plan” that seeks to combat colonialism, patriarchy, mercantilism and limit education to only cover job profiles.”

In another example of the “learnings” under the 4T educational plan, students who take up geography in primary school will not only study the territorial location of Mexican states, but they will also have to differentiate the political party that governs each state.

“Analyze the formation of the current national political map as a result of the most recent electoral process(es), and motivate them (the students) to reflect on the causes of this spatial distribution of political preferences and find patterns of similarities and differences,” the online document reads.

The education plan likewise proposes that in the subject of history for primary school students, “the injustices of the past and of the present” should be recognized.

“Let’s identify situations of past or present injustice that have generated indignation or empathy and have given rise to social movements in Mexico and in other countries for the recognition of human rights and social transformation,” the proposal reads.

This pilot educational program will be implemented on Oct. 29 of this year in 30 states throughout Mexico.