Detail of school books burned by Tzotzil Mayan fathers and mothers from the community of San Antonio el Monte, in the municipality of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas (Mexico), August 20, 2023. Carlos Lopez (EFE)
The picture is worthy of another century. Photos of a stack of textbooks burning in the midst of the fire were seen in Mexico this weekend. Fathers and mothers at a Tzotzil community in Chiapas burned the specimens he designed and handed out for the next school year, which begins in a week, in protest at the realization that “they belong to the devil.” Families have complained that the sites teach “Communism,” “Homosexuality,” and “Lesbianism.” The books, designed on the basis of a new educational model called the New Mexican School, were controversial from the start because they proposed a different way of teaching than the previous one. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended the work of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) this Monday: “You have the right to demonstrate. We are free Viruses of Communism are uninformed and manipulated.
Around a hundred burning books could be seen in the videos that went through social networks. The lyrics were to be used by children at a school in San Antonio del Monte, near San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Chiapas highlands, starting next Monday. “We want the earlier books, not junk.” “We don’t want Triple X,” the parents could be heard shouting around the campfire. Families have complained that the texts are “intended for adults” rather than children because they contain information about different types of families, such as single parents, separated parents, and same-sex relationships. Part of the community, made up mostly of evangelical families, claim that this material is “not suitable” for teaching children and have therefore collected signatures to prevent distribution, local media reports report.
The president reacted to the pictures of the pyre this Monday and assured that it was nothing more than “politics” of conservative groups. “You shouldn’t be manipulated by the conservative bloc leaders, managers, businessmen and influencers,” he said during the daily morning conference. The Chiapas protest wasn’t the only anti-book protest over the weekend. The ultra-conservative National Front for the Family, an anti-abortion organization and anti-LGBT community, marched against books this Sunday alongside activists and politicians from the conservative National Action Party (PAN).
The debate over textbooks has escalated to the point that some governors are refusing to distribute the material in their district schools. Among those who refuse is Chihuahua’s governor, Maru Campos. Last Friday, a group of businessmen and civil organizations from that state supported the decision. “Their use would mean a serious setback, as they contain serious formal and substantive errors, such as promoting class struggle, an educational deficit.” with confusing topics for children and mistakes and trifles like cuts in math and science,” the statement said.
The days are running out for the start of the new cycle as a dispute ensues over what texts the students will have on their desks for the next school year. Mainly in the units where the matter went to court and stalled. “They will be distributed where there is no protection, they have already been distributed, next Monday is the return to school and here we will announce how we can return to school,” López Obrador said this Monday.
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