March 17, 2008
Mexico
Plans to Expand Migrant Education in US & Canada
Frontera
NorteSur
Building on a cross-border educational initiative,
Mexico's federal government plans to expand educational and vocational training programs for Mexican migrants in the United
States. Speaking at an educational and economic development conference in Mexico last week, Mexican Education Minister Josefina
Vazquez Mota said the administration of President Felipe Calderon plans to open an additional 100 community education centers
to serve the migrant population in the United States. The functionary also announced that Mexico will open a similar educational
facility in Canada for the first time.
The purpose of the centers is two-fold. Besides providing basic and secondary
education skills, the programs aim to professionalize the work skills of migrants. Certification programs will be made available
for Las Vegas gardeners, New York restaurant industry employees, California cosmetologists and Wisconsin dairy workers, Vazquez
said, adding that better education and economic competitiveness are linked together by the ties between the three member states
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"(Workers) will have certainty and labor mobility," Vazquez contended.
"Their labor competencies will be recognized." For businessmen, the programs will provide "much more competitive, committed
and cohesive personnel," she added. In the academic realm, the new community education centers will initially focus on teaching
English to migrants.
According to Vazquez, the international program will be managed by Mexico's National College of
Professional and Technical Education (Conalep), which will celebrate its 30th anniversary later this year. The educational
institution is in the process of expanding its curricula to encompass robotics, informatics, alternative energy, tourism and
health, among other subjects.
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Source: La
Jornada, March 6, 2008. Article by Emir Olivares Alonso.
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Frontera
NorteSur (FNS)
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
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(Reprinted with authorization from Frontera NorteSur,
a free, on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news source. FNS can be found at http://frontera.nmsu.edu/)
Translation FNS
