Financing Education and Socioeconomic Inequality in Mexico: New Educational Challenges

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made over the past decade, the challenges currently facing the Mexican education system must be tackled without delay. A preliminary step to developing appropriate strategies to compensate for the uneven results obtained by students as a result of socioeconomic and cultural factors was to analyze the relationship between the funding of education and equity in Mexico, as well as discern new challenges to be faced in this area in order to eliminate social inequialities and improve the quality of education. We collected information via participant observation and documentary analysis, using materials such as UNESCO’s Second Comparative and Explanatory Regional Study, and the Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación de la Educación de México [National Institute for the Evaluation of Education in Mexico] in order to further our knowledge of this complex area of study. The results we obtained confirm that formal education in Mexico in no way guarantees effective equality of opportunity, nor does it reduce the social inequalities stemming from socioeconomic context and family background; on the contrary it reproduces, multiplies and even intensifies the differences that exist before the pupil has even entered the school system.