The Ministry of Public Education (SEP) would seek to eliminate school grades from the basic level to replace them with six grades of learning, as published in the new Curricular Framework and Curriculum 2022 for Mexican Basic Education.
This with the aim of focusing on the cognitive processes of students, in addition to prioritizing the monitoring and evaluation of students in order to expand knowledge in various fields of study.
According to article 37 of the General Law on Education, basic education in Mexico is composed of four levels and thirteen grades: initial (from 0 to 2 years 11 months of age), three grades of preschool, six grades of primary school and three grades of secondary school.
However, according to the 2022 Curriculum, grades from initial to secondary education will be modified to be as follows:
Phase 1: It is planned for initial education and will be taught from 0 to 3 years of age.
Phase 2: preschool education for students aged three to six.
Phase 3: composed of first and second year of primary school for students aged six to nine.
Phase 4: composed of third and fourth year of primary school for students from 9 to 11 years old.
Phase 5: composed of the fifth and sixth year of primary school for students aged 11 to 13.
Phase 6: It will integrate the three years of high school for students aged 13 to 15.
Each of the phases will have a minimum daily workday. Phase 1 envisages a 7-hour schedule for Child Care Centres; for preschool it will be a 3-hour day; for primary school it will be 4.5 hours and for secondary it will be 7 hours. This would add up to a total of 600 hours for pre-school education, 900 for primary and 1,400 hours for initial and secondary education.
The readings given for these six phases of learning will be divided into four fields of knowledge: Languages; Scientific Knowledge and Thought; Ethics, Nature and Society, as well as Human and Community Issues. Depending on the degree of study, the hours dedicated to each category will be.
What is sought is the structuring of training fields (rather than subjects) to achieve a curricular transformation, in which it is also planned to integrate thematic axes such as interculturality, gender equality, aesthetic education and the promotion of reading and writing, it is read in the document that it can be consulted here.
This measure was severely criticized by the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and its national president, Jesús Zambrano, who lashed out against the head of the SEP, Delfina Gómez Álvarez, for proposing to eliminate these grades and replace them with these phases of learning.
According to Zambrano Grijalva, “politicias and occurrences” are what is foreseen by the SEP, as are the decisions handed down earlier, such as the demise of the Full-Time School. “They cannot continue to attack Mexican childhoods in this way, let alone continue to violate their development and learning with new occurrences,” he said.
It should be noted that Delfina Gómez has postponed four times her meeting with the Political Coordination Board (Jucopo) of the Chamber of Deputies to justify the elimination of the Full - Time Schools program, despite urgent requests to attend St. Lazarus.
According to data from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), this program was implemented in 2007 with 441 basic education schools. In 2018, 27,063 schools were registered, of which 51% were in marginalized areas.
KEEP READING: