Urgent Need for Educational Recovery in Guerrero After Hurricane Otis

• The educational authorities of Guerrero have focused their reconstruction and care efforts on Acapulco and Coyuca de Benítez. However, the visits only cover 18% of the educational facilities in these municipalities.
• So far there is no official report on the affected schools in the remaining municipalities declared as disaster zones. Gathering sufficient information is essential to make a diagnosis and design the relevant measures.
• For the General Reconstruction Plan, the reconstruction of schools for the early return to classes is not a priority. The already deteriorated educational situation in Guerrero could worsen as a consequence.

On October 25, Hurricane Otis hit the coast of Guerrero and caused a humanitarian crisis due to the lack of access to basic services, the destruction of homes and damage to public services. Given the lack of minimum health, safety and infrastructure conditions, the local educational authority Indian the temporary closure of schools in the affected municipalities. The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection declared initially 46 of the state’s 85 municipalities as disaster zones. These municipalities host seven out of every 10 compulsory education students in Guerrero.

However, educational authorities have not yet finished evaluating and quantifying the damage suffered by schools. Although the Secretary of Education of Guerrero report damages in 369 compulsory education schools affected by the hurricane, these reports refer only to Acapulco and Coyuca de Benítez, which cover 2 of the 46 municipalities indicated.

For this reason, The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) analyzed the size of enrollment, teaching staff and schools that are within the total number of affected communities with the official information available and estimates that these figures are higher. Within the 46 municipalities affected by the hurricane, there are 625 thousand students, 38 thousand teachers and 7 thousand 498 compulsory education schools that will be affected by the closure of schools due to the emergency.

To prevent further damage to the education of children and young people who live in the most affected areas, it is key that authorities prioritize the recovery of educational services. However, Three weeks after the hurricane, there is no strategy to prevent the damage that this crisis will have on education.

In what is stated in the General Reconstruction Plan of Guerrero, educational recovery is far from being a priority. The plan considers an amount of 10 billion pesos that should be used for the supply and improvement of water distribution lines, drainage, street repairs, public lighting, hospitals, schools, the two airports and other services, but it lacks of specific scopes for its application in educational issues.

Furthermore, an emergency route has not yet been drawn up for the priority reconstruction of schools, with the purpose of minimizing their prolonged closure and thus avoiding the repercussions that this prolonged interruption will have on the education of children and young people living in the most affected areas.

The situation in Guerrero is particularly worrying due to the conditions that precede the passage of Hurricane Otis with the still palpable consequences of the catastrophic events of the 2017 earthquakes and the 2020 pandemic. According to the State Competitiveness Index (ICE), Guerrero is the least competitive entity in the country.

Specifically in education, Guerrero is the third entity with the lowest average schooling. While the average schooling nationwide is 9.7 years, the average student in Guerrero has 7.6 years of education, which is equivalent to finishing first grade in high school. Furthermore, about 10% of children and young people between 3 and 14 years old who live in the state do not attend school. For every 100 inhabitants aged 15 and over, there are 12 who do not have any level of schooling and only 16 complete higher education.

Although attention to emotional health should be a priority, as mentioned Secretary of Education Leticia Ramírez, the prolonged closure of schools during past crises left a powerful lesson about the detrimental impact it has on the training and learning of students.

The interruption of in-person classes can negatively affect the continuity of learning, especially for those already facing socioeconomic challenges. According to the World Bank, an average student who stops attending classes for prolonged periods of time, You could lose 8% of your annual income future, which is equivalent to one month’s salary per year for the rest of your productive life.

The first step to prevent the educational consequences from worsening is to have an accurate account of the reality of 7,500 schools in the municipalities affected by the hurricane. Collaboration between the government, non-governmental organizations and the community at large will be key to overcoming these obstacles in the short and long term. This may include providing emotional support to affected students and teachers, as well as implementing flexible strategies, such as online education or adapting spaces for educational purposes, with the goal of ensuring continuity of learning in all municipalities affected by Hurricane Otis. .