Hidalgo (state) - Education

Education

As of the 1999–2000 school year, the state has 7,421 educational centers for grades K-12, with 33,994 teachers and 743,771 students. Only 19.1% of these students are at the middle school level, 8.3% in vocational schools and 3% in preparatory or in higher education. Most of the students at the higher levels are concentrated in municipalities such as Pachuca, Tula de Allende, Huejutla, Ixmiquilpan and Tulancingo. Fifty three percent of 4 year olds and 95% of 5 year olds attend pre school or kindergarten. Ninety two percent of those who finish primary school go on to secondary school. Seventy four percent who finish secondary school go on to high school or vocational school.Of children over 6 years of age, 93.5% are attending school, which is slightly above the national average of 92.2%, putting Hidalgo in 14th place.

The Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo began at the same time the state was founded. In 1869, the Instituto Literario y Escuela de Artes y Oficios, the university’s predecessor was founded. It was reorganized in 1872 under the Porfirio Díaz regime and in 1875, the school was moved from the house it was founded in on Allende Street to the former hospital of San Juan de Dios on the west side of Pachuca. The school was closed several times during the Mexican Revolution but was permanently reopened in 1925 as the University of Hidalgo. From the time to the present the school has grown adding new departments such as those in medicine and engineering. In 1948, the school gain autonomy from governmental oversight, changing its name to the current one. This school is the most important in the state as it is organized in the mid 20th century to spur the industrial development on which the state depends today.