Mexico City.- A federal court today gave the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) 24 hours to comply with the definitive suspension that, since last May, ordered it to submit the redesign of free textbooks to prior consultations and other legal requirements.
“It is noted that the responsible authorities have failed to fully comply with the resolution regarding the final suspension issued in the proceedings,” warned the Third District Court in Administrative Matters, which has the protection promoted by the National Union of Parents (UNPF).
Judge Yadira Mena had already ruled, on June 29, that there was contempt of the suspension, after the head of the SEP, Leticia Ramírez, and the General Director of Educational Materials, Marx Arriaga, refused to send her copies of the primary and secondary textbooks for the 2023-2024 cycle, because they do not have to print or distribute them.
These functions correspond to the National Commission for Free Textbooks (Conaliteg), a dependency that also said it was “unable” to comply with the suspension.
In practice, the books are already circulating and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador affirmed on July 28 that they are not going to withdraw them.
“They are not going to withdraw, why? There is no motive or reason to withdraw them or to store them. Imagine, we are talking about millions of copies. No, they are going to be distributed everywhere, they are going to be delivered and it is a message from I’m behind in wanting to store a book, hide the books, it’s like canning a movie,” he said.
Violating a suspension is a federal crime that is punishable by three to nine years in prison, but the only thing the judge can do is impose fines and report the case to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), which is the one that decides whether to charge the responsible officials.
“The procedure for printing textbooks for basic education for the 2023-2024 school year, must be adhered to and completed with each of the stages that the law provides for this purpose, because only in this way is its content guaranteed. pedagogy in accordance with the best interests of children, as well as with the democratic objectives and academic training; hence the need for interaction with specialized citizens and state governments”, ordered the judge in the May suspension.
The SEP challenged before a collegiate circuit court, which has not issued a sentence, so in theory the authority has to abide by the judge’s order.
“(The authorities) have not guaranteed a participatory procedure where state governments and specialists in educational matters (the social actors involved in education) intervene regarding the determination of study programs and the selection of books of text, as required, despite the imminence of the 2023-2024 school year,” the judge said on June 29.
See unconstitutional judge Pilot Plan 2022-2023
Francisco Javier Rebolledo, Sixth District Judge in Administrative Matters, ruled on June 16 that the pilot plan with which the SEP tried to implement its new Curriculum for Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education in 960 schools during the cycle is unconstitutional. 2022-2023.
“(The pilot plan) constitutes a regressive measure, since it is intended to apply the new study plan throughout an entire school year and only with respect to a smaller percentage of public school students, without the issuance and publication of study programs authorized by the SEP, without the prior training of the teachers regarding the content of that plan and study program and without approved textbooks,” said the judge.
As it is a substantive sentence that granted the amparo, its effects are not immediate -unlike the suspension-, but are subject to a collegiate court confirming the ruling, which the SEP challenged on July 5.
Rebolledo warned that, if he insists on applying the new Study Plan in the 2023-2024 cycle, the SEP has to do so with an approved study program published in the Official Gazette and official newspapers of all states, previously training teachers , have authorized textbooks according to the legal process, and apply it to the entire universe of students, not just in some schools.
The pilot plan could not be carried out in the last school year, because Rebolledo and his colleague Martín Santos granted suspensions that prevented it.
2023-07-31 22:07:47
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