Morelos - Education

Education

The state, especially in the Cuernavaca area, is known as a center of education, second to Mexico City. The state has a high percentage of educated and well-traveled people, many of whom speak second languages such as English, French and German.

Modern education in the state began during the Reform period, with the Mexican government taking over educational responsibilities from the church. The government’s role in education expanded after the Mexican Revolution. In Morelos, the government founded “Casas del Pueblo” (People’s Houses) staffed with a teacher for the community to become a central figure. In 1936, the Escuela Regional Campesina (Farm Workers’ Regional School) was established in Yautepec and a short time after that President Lázaro Cárdenas founded the Escuela Normal Feminina de Palmira (Palmira Teachers College for Women) and the Instituto Federal de Capacitacion del Magisterio for those to earn or complete their teaching credentials.

Until 1991, education was rigidly centralized and bureaucratic, causing difficulties in providing adequate education to many areas. In 1992, the Instituto de la Educación Básica (Basic Education Institute) was created to change this. This divided basic education into preschool, special education, primary and secondary and it provided guarantees for a minimum.

Today over 360,000 students are taught by over 13,000 teachers in 823 schools up to the eighth grade. All municipalities are required by state law to provide preschool, and grade school education to their populations up to the eighth grade, as well as professional development for teachers. All are required to attend school up to the eighth grade. Most schoolchildren begin with at least one year of preschool or kindergarten and secondary school (middle school) is provided either through face-to-face classes or through “telesecundarias” with televised classes in the more rural areas. Secondary schools are also divided into general and technical schools. The state has four teachers’ colleges, two which produce primary school teachers and two which produce secondary school teachers. The state education system provides education from preschool to high school, vocational-technical education, as well as higher education to the doctoral level. There are also “centros de capacitacion” or training centers for workers looking to improve basic skills or gain technical skills. The average number of years of schooling completed is 8.4 years (second year of middle school), with the national average at 8.1.

There are a total of 32 institutions of higher education in the state. Many schools have set up campuses in Cuernavaca to escape Mexico City and the state is encouraging this. One of these schools is ITESM.

The origins of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM) date back to the 19th century, when governor Francisco Leyva founded the Instituto Literario y Cientifico de Morelos in 1871. It was mostly suspended shortly thereafter by President Porfirio Díaz, a political opponent of Leyva, leaving only the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Studies in Acapantzingo. It was revived under the name of Instituto de Estudios Superiores del Estado de Morelos by Governor Elpidio Perdomo and President Lázaro Cárdenas. It was reorganized under its current name in 1953, after the addition of more fields of study. Currently, the school offers forty bachelor’s degrees.