Politics: Sharp debate erupts on the character of free school textbooks, reflecting the political divide
A major controversy has erupted in Mexico concerning the free textbooks for primary and high school students. The debate is taking place on several levels. On the legal front, there are questions as to whether educators, parents, teachers, were consulted, as mandated by the General Law on Education. There is also debate in relation to secondary problems with textbooks' content, such as their containing scientifically incorrect data, which raises the question of whether they were reviewed and revised.
But most importantly and most polemically are the concerns over their overall orientation. Critics, which include the Catholic Church, right-wing currents and organizations, business associations and all the opposition parties and governors, charge that the new textbooks are ideologically slanted, with a strong left-wing bias and content explicitly repudiating the capitalist system and values. The powerful TV Azteca conglomerate and its CEO Ricardo Salinas Pliego have waged a campaign claiming the textbooks aim for nothing less than the communist indoctrination of school children and are part of a plan to impose a communist dictatorship on the country.
The official line of the government as expressed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Minister of Public Education Leticia Ramirez, and Morena is that the new textbooks reflect the Fourth Transformation’s quest for a humanist and solidarity-based society, that specific problems with their content issues are minor and correctable, and that the entire ruckus is just a smokescreen for another front in the opposition and the media’s ongoing campaign against the government.
The stakes in the dispute have been dramatically raised in the past few days, with announcements by six opposition governors stating that they will refuse to distribute the textbooks. The Supreme Court has allowed Chihuahua to refuse to distribute the texts and will soon weigh in on their constitutionality. AMLO, however, remains adamant, and has ignored an initial court ruling suspending the distribution of the textbooks.
With the country’s heading toward the 2024 presidential and legislative elections, political polarization is at an all-time high, and the debate on the free school textbooks is only adding fuel to the fire.
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