The impact of COVID-19 on education provision to indigenous people in Mexico

Abstract As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, measures have been taken globally to shut down schools at all levels and move education to the online arena, which entails a strong dependence on access to the internet and electronic gadgets. Measures such as these are bound to deepen already existing inequality and bring about major disruptions in the students’ learning process. In this context, the makeup of our diverse Mexican society and school communities calls for a political framework that promotes equal education and ensures a way of constructing knowledge that is accessible to all; a perspective in education that respects traditional groups and cultures, especially those who are usually financially disadvantaged, such as indigenous people. This article examines measures taken to support provision of online education, in general, and indigenous groups, in particular. The data collection approach to support the findings consisted of reviewing official websites from UNESCO, the Mexican Ministry of Education, and three states with the largest number of indigenous people (IP). The findings suggest that the production of TV programs and school booklets in indigenous languages show a considerable effort to reach out to indigenous communities throughout the country. Nevertheless, the measures taken by the national and state governments may still be deemed limited and somewhat biased in favor of monolingual students.

摘要 受新冠疫情（COVID-19 pandemic）影响，全球范围内各级学校均采取停课措施，将教育活动转移至线上平台，这使得教育对互联网接入与电子设备产生了极强的依赖。此类举措势必加剧业已存在的教育不平等，并对学生的学习过程造成严重干扰。在此背景下，墨西哥多元的社会结构与学校社群亟需一套政治框架，以推动教育公平，并构建一套人人均可获取的知识生成路径；这一教育视角应当尊重传统群体与文化，尤其是那些通常处于经济弱势地位的群体，例如原住民群体（indigenous people）。本文针对旨在支持线上教育开展的各项举措展开研究，尤其聚焦于面向原住民群体的相关政策。本研究的成果支撑数据采集方式为：查阅联合国教育、科学及文化组织（UNESCO）、墨西哥教育部，以及原住民人口最多的三个州的官方网站资料。研究结果显示，以原住民语言制作电视节目与学习手册的举措，体现了该国为覆盖全国原住民社群所付出的显著努力。然而，国家与州级政府所采取的相关举措仍存在局限性，且在一定程度上偏向单语学生。