mexico spends 28 bil ann on education

US Drug War In Mexico & Central America
Violence, Official Corruption Are Hallmarks Of US Drug War In Mexico & Central America
Drug War Out Of Control, Education System Resource-Poor And Failing; Calderon's Solution: Student Drug Testing
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has announced plans to institute drug testing in schools throughout Mexico. Leaving aside concerns about the effectiveness of student drug testing in general, the question is begged as to whether the Mexican government can afford such an initiative.

The Houston Chronicle reported on July 3, 2007 ("Mexico's President Unveils Anti-Drug Plan") that "Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday launched a new phase of his anti-narcotics crusade that will include the drug testing of students in more than 8,000 schools nationwide. Calderon's initiative is seen as recognition of a growing problem among Mexican adolescents. Many Mexicans, including police and other officials, have long seen drug trafficking as an American problem, limiting the public's support for combating the problem. "Society is demanding a coordinated response from the authorities to confront this social cancer," Calderon said at a junior high school in Monterrey, the industrial hub 150 miles south of Laredo, Texas, that has been battered by gangland violence this year. In addition to calling for drug testing, Calderon said local, state and federal governments will build more parks and sports complexes and push for public involvement in them, with an initial $7 million investment in Monterrey. And he said more than 300 clinics would be opened across Mexico to treat drug and alcohol addictions."

According to the Chronicle, "The number of Mexico City middle- and high-school students who admitted using crystal meth doubled between 1997 and 2003, to 3.6 percent, according to the most recent study by the National Psychiatric Institute. Fifteen percent admitted to using some kind of narcotic, with cocaine, marijuana and meth the drugs of choice. However, experts say actual drug use among Mexican adolescents is probably twice that high, particularly in poor urban neighborhoods."

The Chronicle noted that "Warfare between the criminal gangs that smuggle cocaine and other drugs into the United States has killed more than 1,300 people this year and rattled the Mexican public. Police increasingly blame rivalries among retail drug traffickers -- who sell in neighborhoods and villages -- for a growing percentage of the bloodshed. Calderon has sent more than 24,000 army troops into drug producing and trafficking regions where the violence has been worse in recent years. Last week, his administration removed nearly 300 commanders from the federal police forces, replacing them with officers supposedly more trustworthy. The violence has slackened in recent weeks, spurring speculation that the major trafficking organizations have reached a truce that will help take public attention off them."

One serious concern regards the amount of resources available to the Mexican education system. A 2005 report by RAND Corporation, "Education In Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities," noted that:
"The government currently spends about $28 billion yearly on education, almost a quarter of its programmable budget. On per-student terms, this is equivalent to US $1,350, well below the OECD average. Spending is lowest in primary school (US $800), then increases for upper secondary ($1,700) and rises sharply for higher education ($4,000). These disparities in the spending pattern across levels of education raise some important equity issues, as only a small section of the population is able to benefit from the higher spending in higher education. In addition, the share of the rural, low-income, or indigenous students (who tend to be among the most disadvantaged) who can benefit from public higher education is low when compared to populations in urban areas who are relatively better off.
"As is the case in other countries, particularly in developing countries, educational authorities in Mexico have little room to spend resources on school reform programs, school equipment, teaching materials, and other improvement efforts, as teacher salaries represent about 90 percent of education spending (Latapí and Ulloa, 2000). Our interviews revealed that in some states (e.g., Aguascalientes), the proportion of the states' education budget spent on salaries could be as high as 98 percent." (p. 12)

The RAND report further notes:
"Out of every 100 students entering the first grade of primary school in Mexico, around 68 of them will complete all nine years of basic education. Thirty-five of these will go on to graduate from upper secondary. These numbers are taken by using the terminal efficiency or completion indicators and the absorption rates reported by SEP in its latest annual report (SEP, 2003). There are no precise data on how many of the upper secondary graduates enter college. We should note, though, that the dropout levels among those entering college are significant (as high as 77 percent according to figures from ANUIES, 2003). The actual portion of the population aged 18 and older in Mexico that holds a bachelor's degree is around 8.5 percent (Villa and Pacheco, 2004)." (p. 17)

As well, they report:
"Educational attainment and achievement levels in Mexico are generally low, although they have improved greatly in the past 10 years. In 2003, average educational attainment of the population aged 15 and older was 7.9 years, while in 1993 it was 6.8 years. These averages mask important regional differences. Wealthier states like Nuevo León and Mexico City have average educational attainment rates of 9.5 years, which means children have completed basic education plus some upper secondary. In contrast, poorer states such as Oaxaca and Chiapas have average educational attainment of six years, which means children have completed basic primary education only.
"Mexico has not fared well in recent international examinations. On the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Mexican students placed last or second to last among a group of countries that included mostly developed nations. Even in Latin America, Mexican student-performance is among the lowest. The regional mean for language arts in the Laboratorio Latinoamericano student assessments conducted by UNESCO in 2000 was 261. Mexican student scored 250, below the regional Latin American mean, and below Cuba (342), Argentina (277), and Brazil (269). In mathematics, the regional mean was 257, while Mexican students scored 255. Again, this placed them below Cuba (357), Argentina (265), and Brazil (263)."