More than 20 million students returned to face-to-face classes: Delfina Gómez

Andrea Becerril, Víctor Ballinas and Laura Poy

La Jornada newspaper
Wednesday, November 17, 2021, p. 18

The Secretary of Public Education, Delfina Gómez Álvarez, reported in the Senate that 116 thousand children have not returned to face-to-face classes, which represents 2.3 percent of school enrollment, so the cause is already being investigated; He also revealed that the agency under his charge signed an agreement with the UNAM to assess the possible academic impact of teaching through digital networks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I have moral authority to be hereThe head of the SEP responded to PAN senators who asked her to request a license to investigate the alleged diversion of resources from the municipality of Texcoco, when she headed it, to the formation of Morena in the entity.

When appearing before the Senate Education Commission, the head of the SEP specified that the 178 thousand schools in the country reopened and more than 20 million students, of the total enrolled in the basic level, have already returned to face-to-face classes. This, he insisted, was necessary not only for academic reasons, but also largely due to the urgency of protecting the physical and emotional health of both students and teachershe explained.

No contagion of Covid-19 in school campuses

In a brief interview at the end, Delfina Gómez maintained that there have been no infections by Covid-19 in school campuses.

During his presentation, he informed that the programs focused on scholarships were prioritized, which have benefited 11 million students with a budget of almost 85 billion pesos and announced that there will be an increase in the amount of scholarships of 50 pesos per month in the of basic and upper secondary education, in this way, from 800 pesos they received, it will go to 850 pesos. Regarding the bimonthly payments of the Youth Building the Future program (higher education), it increased from 2,400 to 2,550. Those would be the achievements, because we have seen that it benefits young people a lot.

Among the many complaints he received – even from Morena senators who are teachers, such as Casimiro Méndez, from Michoacán, Eli Cervantes from San Luis Potosí, and Guadalupe Covarrubias, from Tamaulipas – highlighted the delays in teacher payments. The official responded that the Federation is up to date and promised to review the cases with the respective governors.

During the meeting, PRI senator Beatriz Paredes referred to what she considered a chain of attacks on the highest university and, in her response, Delfina Gómez denied that the SEP had an attitude other than collaboration. with the UNAM.

At another point, he reported that the SEP has already regularized more than 400 thousand teacher positions nationwide and about 36 thousand in Mexico City, as a test of the effort to dignify and revalue the teaching profession.

The official responded to all the questions and offered that she would send the multiple figures that they demanded later, even when the PAN member Xóchitl Gálvez asked her to request a license, or when the also blue and white Guadalupe Saldaña told her that the federal government is failed in education and she must resign from the SEP If your aspiration for a candidacy takes your attention away.

Gómez Álvarez maintained that he did not commit any illicit and his commitment is the education of the country. It is a great responsibility that we have to carry with dignity, she said to later emphasize that her family, friends, colleagues and students, and all who know her They know that I would never do such a thing and that I have precisely that moral quality to be here.