Current Issues in Comparative Education - Special Issue 2022 - The Provision of Learning in Mexico During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Defining the Digital Divide

Oct 15, 2026

The article examines how Mexico’s COVID-19 pandemic intensified chronic socioeconomic inequalities and reshaped learning access. It outlines Mexico’s education system structure and governance under SEP, then analyzes policy shifts from earlier reforms to the General Law on Education and the “New Mexican School.” It connects national context, digital learning and ICT commitments, and the role of institutional autonomy and teacher organizations, focusing on how these factors define and widen the digital divide during 2020–2021.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE) - Volume 24, Issue 2 (Special Issue 2022)

The Provision of Learning in Mexico During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Defining the Digital Divide

The pandemic in Mexico: socioeconomic inequalities and violence trends

Mexico’s education system, policies, and governance (SEP, higher education, teacher unions)

Education reforms and the General Law on Education / “New Mexican School”

ICTs and digital learning in Chapter XI of the law

Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), Volume 24, Issue 2, Special Issue 2022 The Provision of Learning in Mexico During the COVID- 19 Pandemic: Defining the Digital Divide Romina Quezada Morales Teachers College, Columbia University The pandemic in Mexico: Another burden to chronic socioeconomic inequalities Geographically, the United Mexican States are part of North America, along with the United States of America and Canada; south, they border Guatemala and Belize; they border the Gulf of Mexico to the East, and the Pacific Ocean to the West (Sistema de Información de Tendencias Educativas en América Latina [SITEAL], 2020) . Mexico has 32 federate entities, which are home to approximately 129 million inhabitants, out of whom 78% live in urban areas, and 15% are indigenous (SITEAL, 2020) . In 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected President of Mexico for a period of six years, adopting an anti-neoliberal policy. The change of regime aimed at eradicating chronic socioeconomic gaps that had been affecting the largest sector of the Mexican population–humanism for development, reduced violence, and no more forced migration are among the priorities of López Obrador’s 2018-2024 National Plan for Development (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, Gobierno de la República, 2019) . The country’s gaps were indeed preoccupying: in 2018, 36.6% of the population in urban areas and 56.3% in rural areas lived in poverty, 25% of women lived without an individual outcome and, in 2015, 70% of the population did not trust the previous administration (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean [ECLAC], n.d.-a; n.d-b) . Violence-wise, homicides increased 84% between 2015 and 2020, and organized crime went up 40.5% since 2015 (Institute for Economics and Peace, 2021) . Mexico faced the pandemic under this atmosphere. Mexico’s education system, policies and rulers The national education system in Mexico comprises basic education, upper-secondary education, and higher education, which can be taught in schools, remotely, and in a mixed modality (Secretaría de Educación Pública [SEP], 2015-a) . Basic education comprises preschool (3 years), primary school (6 years), and lower-secondary school (3 years); uppersecondary education typically takes 3 years; higher education offers short-term technical degrees, as well as undergraduate (4 to 5 years) and graduate degrees (SITEAL, 2019) . As of 2019, all Mexican states are obliged to provide free, public education at these levels (Presidencia de la República, 2019-a; SITEAL, 2019) . Since 1921, the Secretary of Public Education (SEP, 2015-b) oversees most of Mexico’s education system. SEP regulates initial school (from 0 to 2 years of age), basic education, and certain modalities of upper-secondary education. Universities are typically autonomous or private, although SEP also manages teacher colleges and eventually certifies all higher education diplomas (SEP, n.d.; 2015-c) . The largest university is the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM]), which provided free education to 258, 128 students at all higher education © 2022, Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 24(2), 204-216. The Provision of Learning in Mexico during the COVID-19 Pandemic levels during the 2020-2021 academic year (Portal de Estadística Universitaria UNAM, 2020). In 2020, according to América Economía, Mexico’s Technological Institute of Higher Education (Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de México [ITESM]) and the National Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Politécnico Nacional [IPN]) appeared before and after UNAM in national quality rankings, respectively (Allan, 2020) . Over the years, and in parallel with the 80-year rule of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional [PRI]) until 2000, the

FAQs

What does the article focus on regarding learning during COVID-19 in Mexico?

It studies how learning provisions during the pandemic are shaped by Mexico’s education policies and by existing socioeconomic inequalities, with emphasis on defining the digital divide.

How is Mexico’s education system structured, according to the text?

It comprises basic education, upper-secondary education, and higher education, delivered through in-school, remote, or mixed modalities.

Which authorities oversee major parts of Mexico’s education system?

The Secretary of Public Education (SEP) oversees much of the system, while universities are typically autonomous or private; SEP also manages teacher colleges and certifies higher education diplomas.

What policy direction replaces the Education Reform and how does it frame education?

The López Obrador administration replaces the Education Reform with the General Law on Education, emphasizing democracy, humanism, equity, interculturality, and excellence, implemented through the “New Mexican School” proposal for 2021–2022.

Oct 15, 2026

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