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| Mexican education reforms pass senate | Mexican education reforms pass senate |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Mexico's senate has overwhelmingly approved sweeping reform of the notoriously dysfunctional public school system, handing the president, Enrique Peña Nieto, an important victory in his push to remake some of his country's worst-run institutions. | |
| The senate voted 102-22 in favour of a standardised system of test-based hiring and promotion that would give the government the tools to break teachers unions' near-total control of school staffing. | The senate voted 102-22 in favour of a standardised system of test-based hiring and promotion that would give the government the tools to break teachers unions' near-total control of school staffing. |
| That control includes the corrupt sale and inheritance of teaching jobs, and it has been widely blamed for much of the poor performance of Mexican schools, which have higher relative costs and worse results than any other in the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. | That control includes the corrupt sale and inheritance of teaching jobs, and it has been widely blamed for much of the poor performance of Mexican schools, which have higher relative costs and worse results than any other in the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. |
| "The inheritance and sale of jobs has ended," said the education secretary, Emilio Chuayffet. "Merit is the ideal means of access to, and progress in, a teaching career." | "The inheritance and sale of jobs has ended," said the education secretary, Emilio Chuayffet. "Merit is the ideal means of access to, and progress in, a teaching career." |
| The late-night vote clears a path for Peña Nieto to move forward with a series of even more controversial reforms, including a measure that would violate one of modern Mexico's longest-standing taboos by allowing private investment in the state-run oil company. | The late-night vote clears a path for Peña Nieto to move forward with a series of even more controversial reforms, including a measure that would violate one of modern Mexico's longest-standing taboos by allowing private investment in the state-run oil company. |
| But there is potential trouble ahead. Education advocates say a series of concessions to the smaller of the two main teachers unions undermine the reform's ability to create true change in the national education system. | But there is potential trouble ahead. Education advocates say a series of concessions to the smaller of the two main teachers unions undermine the reform's ability to create true change in the national education system. |
| And despite those concessions the smaller teachers' union continued days of debilitating demonstrations in Mexico City, sending tens of thousands of supporters to shut down the capital's main boulevard and protest outside key government building on Wednesday. | And despite those concessions the smaller teachers' union continued days of debilitating demonstrations in Mexico City, sending tens of thousands of supporters to shut down the capital's main boulevard and protest outside key government building on Wednesday. |
| Thousands attended smaller protests in cities around the country. The union also pledged to throw its support behind a weekend protest against the oil reform by leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador | |
| "When Congress is rendered void the only thing that remains is the streets," leftist Senator Mario Delgado said as a series of his Democratic Revolution party's objections to specific measures of the reform were rejected in relatively narrow votes. | "When Congress is rendered void the only thing that remains is the streets," leftist Senator Mario Delgado said as a series of his Democratic Revolution party's objections to specific measures of the reform were rejected in relatively narrow votes. |
| The education reform initially pitted Peña Nieto against the country's main teachers' union, Latin America's largest union and once one of the most important allies of his Institutional Revolutionary party. The union, known by the Spanish acronym SNTE, fell into line after its head, Elba Esther Gordillo, was arrested on corruption charges in February. She remains jailed pending trial. | The education reform initially pitted Peña Nieto against the country's main teachers' union, Latin America's largest union and once one of the most important allies of his Institutional Revolutionary party. The union, known by the Spanish acronym SNTE, fell into line after its head, Elba Esther Gordillo, was arrested on corruption charges in February. She remains jailed pending trial. |
| A smaller, dissident union known as the National Education Workers' Co-ordinating Committee, or CNTE, continued protesting and eventually rallied thousands of teachers from poor southern states, paralysing large sections of the capital for more than a week. | A smaller, dissident union known as the National Education Workers' Co-ordinating Committee, or CNTE, continued protesting and eventually rallied thousands of teachers from poor southern states, paralysing large sections of the capital for more than a week. |
| In the end the CNTE won a series of concessions that help protect its members. | In the end the CNTE won a series of concessions that help protect its members. |
| Reform advocates called the law an important first step but said much more remained to be done in order to change the system. "It's not everything we would have hoped for but it's an historic change," said David Calderon, director of the education reform advocacy group Mexicans First. "Of course it's just a change in the rules that still has to be turned into reality." | Reform advocates called the law an important first step but said much more remained to be done in order to change the system. "It's not everything we would have hoped for but it's an historic change," said David Calderon, director of the education reform advocacy group Mexicans First. "Of course it's just a change in the rules that still has to be turned into reality." |
| Much of Mexico's educational dysfunction is attributed to the relationship formed more than half a century ago between the Institutional Revolutionary party and the teachers' unions, which gained increasing control of the education system in exchange for throwing their strength behind the government in the voting box and on the streets. | Much of Mexico's educational dysfunction is attributed to the relationship formed more than half a century ago between the Institutional Revolutionary party and the teachers' unions, which gained increasing control of the education system in exchange for throwing their strength behind the government in the voting box and on the streets. |
| Over the years the unions developed a virtual lock on teacher hiring and promotion. Almost every new teacher must go through a union to gain a school assignment, a practice that has spawned notorious levels of corruption, including the sale and inheritance of teaching positions. | Over the years the unions developed a virtual lock on teacher hiring and promotion. Almost every new teacher must go through a union to gain a school assignment, a practice that has spawned notorious levels of corruption, including the sale and inheritance of teaching positions. |
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