A shortage of qualified English teachers means that only three percent of students at Mexico’s primary and secondary public schools can actually speak the language to any degree of fluency.
This is one of the findings of a new report by Mexicanos Primero titled “Sorry,” that also highlights the general low level of English of graduates from teacher training colleges.
A survey of primary school teachers showed that 15 percent had no knowledge of the language at all and around one-quarter had a level equivalent to fourth-grade. Just under 50 percent finished their secondary educations not having attained the satisfactory level of English required by education authorities. This means the pool from which future English teachers can be drawn is pitifully small, notes Mexicanos Primero, an NGO focusing on improving education standards in the country.
Mexicanos Primero also revealed that many English teachers employed in the public school system also lack the sufficient skills to teach the language effectively.
The situation has meant delays in the implementation of the Programa Nacional de Ingles, which requires 90,000 teachers to provide obligatory classes in English in all the nation’s primary and secondary schools. There is currently a shortage of 62,000 teachers.
There were only 2,120 new openings for English teachers last year, the vast majority of them in Mexico City, the report noted.
By law, the teaching of English is obligatory in all secondary school in Mexico but not in primary education. Nonetheless, statistics from the Education Secretariat (SEP) highlight the huge regional differences in the quality of education in Mexico, while at the same time giving cause to doubt that all secondary schools include English on their curriculums.
According to SEP, English is taught in 99.2 percent of primary, secondary and technical secondary schools in the state of Nuevo Leon, 90.4 percent Tamaulipas and 90.1 percent in Aguascalientes, but at only 4.7 percent in Veracruz, 7.9 percent in Chiapas and 8.8 percent Michoacan. Just over half of Mexico City’s schools teach English.
“English teaching was not a priority for the government in the first half of the (Peña Nieto) administration,” said David Calderon, director of Mexicanos Primero.