From the 1990s the Federal Government have however assumed a rather supervisory role as far as primary and lower secondary education is concerned by devolving authority to the individual ministries of education in the 31 states. It has however retained direct control of primary and lower secondary education in the Federal District of Mexico City. Also the Federal Government continues to distribute free textbooks across the country and still decides the common curriculum for basic education. Higher education however does not fall under the direct administration of the Federal Government or the state ministries and the majority of university students are enrolled in public autonomous universities and institutions. Most of these autonomous institutions have their own institutional and infrastructure set-ups complete with their own budgets, study programs and teaching staff. Certain private higher education institutions are also supervised by these public autonomous universities while the rest of the private institutions come under the supervisory purview of federal and state agencies. However, the federal agencies and state ministries almost always supervise public technological institutions and teacher training institutions.
The government of Mexico’s emphasis on education has no doubt improved the country’s literacy levels with nine in ten Mexicans today being a literate. However, despite making pre-school education compulsory since 2004, and with schooling being compulsory for children from the age of 6 till 18, one in every seven Mexican children of school-going age do not go to school. The problem is more compounded in rural areas and in the poorer localities of urban centers. Although funded by the government, primary schools in these schools are often staffed by less qualified teachers and often face infrastructure shortages. No wonder one important motivating factor among many Mexicans migrating to urban areas is the opportunity to provide better and quality education to their children.
University education however presents a different picture with most institutions of higher education being concentrated in the larger urban centers with Mexico City alone accounting for the majority of the country’s university attending young population. Some of the most prominent institutions of higher learning in Mexico include the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of technology and Higher Education, and the College of Mexico. In view of the ever-increasing demands for educational opportunities together with the challenges of globalization and economic liberalization, the Mexican government continues to carry out reform programs aimed at improving the quantity and quality of education and learning in the country.
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