Education and the poor in Mexico

This thesis examines the education system in Mexico before and after the 1982 debt crisis to assess the impact on education of two distinct development models. The first model examined is a state-led development model that created huge bureaucracies and powerful labor unions before the 1982 debt crisis. The second model investigated is that of market-based policies implemented by the Mexican government following the 1982 debt crisis. Such policies include structural adjustment programs and other institutional reforms. In this context, education reforms were implemented in Mexico during the term of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988--1992). The hypothesis of this thesis is that the institutional and political context in which neoliberal education reforms are implemented conditions the extent to which these reforms provide the poor with better access to education. In Mexico, such reforms increased the poor's access to education by the late 1990s. Improvements in basic education were evident in declining drop-out and grade repetition rates but some regions still lag behind. Due to entrenched interests reallocation of financial resources from universities to basic education has not been substantial.;The research for this thesis relied on descriptive literature reviews and empirical data analysis. Chapter II examines the shaping of Mexico's centralized education system from colonial rule to the 1982 debt crisis. Chapter III explains the 1982 debt crisis and the response by the Mexican government with a focus on structural adjustment programs. Chapter IV provides a detailed description of the poor in Mexico. Chapter V describes compensatory programs implemented in the late 1980s to mitigate the social costs of adjustment while expanding educational access. Chapter VI analyzes key stakeholders and special interest groups in the education sector and their influence on reforms that sought a more decentralized and equitable education system. Finally, conclusions are presented in Chapter VII with a section discussing the conditions necessary for neoliberal education reforms to succeed.