Available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable education for indigenous people in Mexico: A statistical review

Abstract

The article presents a statistical review of the educational situation of the indigenous people in Mexico. For this reason, it is dissected if the subsystem of indigenous education meets the 4-A criteria. According to the United Nations’ Committee for Educational, Social and Cultural Rights, indigenous education should be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. (1999, General Comment no. 13) The aim of the review is to describe the status quo and to visualize duties for institutions and key actors from the field of indigenous as well as intercultural and bilingual education in México. The statistical review of the Mexican case showed that the criteria of a 4-A education for the indigenous Mexicans are not fulfilled. Indigenous education misses to be available due to the fact that the educational subsystem receives much less financial resources than the general educational system and counts with a lower standard of infrastructure. Furthermore, the indigenous education is no sufficiently accessible because there exist discriminative processes, structures and mechanisms that result in indigenous pupils being excluded from participating at educational processes. Also, the indigenous education does not count with a preferable level of acceptability because the missing contextualization of the contents and the teaching makes the indigenous pupils perceive their experiences in school as far from their realities. Moreover, indigenous education lacks adaptability because the existing alternative educational programs do not guarantee an attendance of all the needs of the different social groups of the indigenous people.