Written by Sahar Derakhshan and Ji Su Lee
Update October 6, 2017
Mexico City, Puebla y Morelos (Source: UNICEF)
5,287 schools have been certified as safe and are operating normally in Mexico City. This represents 57% of all schools in the city: 4,000 schools remain closed. Restrictions to return to school are maintained in Tlahuac and specific neighbourhoods of Iztapalapa and Xochimilco. (Source: SEP). Morelos reports 200 schools that are severely damaged, while Puebla reports 7,278 schools that are still closed, with 62 schools requiring complete reconstruction. To date 956,000 children are still out of school. During the week of 9 September, 11 child friendly spaces will be opened in Puebla and 5 others will be opened in Morales.
Chiapas (Source: UNICEF)
Ten schools collapsed in the region of Istmo Costa, affecting 1,872 students. To address the learning needs of these children, the Ministry of Education in Chiapas expressed the need for 74 temporary learning spaces, along with School-in-a-Box and ECD kits. In Tonalá, Chiapas, there is only one shelter left open, which receives 44 children on a daily basis. World Vision has installed 3 child friendly spaces in this municipality, attending to an average of 110 children per day. UNICEF coordinated with World Vision and the Chiapas Ministry of Education for the training of facilitators and teachers on psycho-social support.
Oaxaca (Source: UNICEF)
Political tensions among different parties in Juchitan and neighboring municipalities is very evident, to the point of suspending a UN mission for security reasons. Aid coordination is an important issue, and the military has been asked to organize some of the larger shelters (called “mega-albergues”). On the education sector, the ongoing tension between the Oaxaca Ministry of Education and the Teachers’ Union has stalled the reopening of schools. In Oaxaca, 367 temporary learning spaces are being built to attend to 133, 000 students. (Source: El Universal).
On September 27, NPR reported than less than 10% of Mexico City’s schools had reopened. Many more had already been inspected and cleared to resume classes. However, much of the delay is caused by long waits at the federal education office as school administrators wait for a final approval stamp on their building inspection certificates. TIME reported that 98% of the capital’s schools required an official inspection before being reopened for business. The Federal Education Secretary Aurelio Nino said that they will announce which schools have been deemed safe for re-occupancy on a daily basis, and that students previously at schools with structural damage may be assigned to temporary classrooms (Source: NPR). Some schoolchildren and parents worry about falling behind on classwork. Many are helping out as volunteers while engineers inspect their school buildings, whether it be handing out lunch or helping out on-site with whatever tasks the workers may need help with. Some schools, such as the Francisco Kino School, were converted into temporary shelters for residents whose houses had either collapsed or were uninhabitable due to dangerous structural damage (Source: NPR).
