In a controversy not dissimilar to the battles raging in some U.S. states, a row has exploded in Mexico over the content of the free text books that are distributed to educación básica (primary and secondary) school children at the start of each academic year.
Opposition parties and conservative parents’ associations are up in arms at the 2023-24 books, accusing the federal government and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of trying to indoctrinate children with leftist ideology, downplaying the importance of science and math, and including “confusing” references to gender diversity in the primary school tomes.
Despite a court injunction granted to the Unión Nacional de Padres de Familia (National Union of Parents) ordering the suspension of the text book program, the federal government has gone ahead and printed a run of around 160,000 copies and sent them to all of Mexico’s 32 states.
Opposition parties have unanimously voiced their objections to the “political slant” of the text books that they say reflects the president’s ideology. These include references discrediting “neoliberalism,” the ideology of previous governments that López Obrador says caused many of Mexico’s ills, plus a section that talks about the alleged and unproven electoral fraud of 2006.
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