An Intercultural Education for Mexico: Career and Contributions of Sylvia Schmelkes

Abstract

This article introduces Sylvia Schmelkes's contributions in the field of intercultural education. An outstanding Mexican educational researcher, Schmelkes was General Coordinator of the Intercultural and Bilingual General Coordination (GCIBE) at the Mexican Ministry of Public Education from its inception in 2001 until 2007. This article provides a perspective on interculturality and a brief overview of the Mexican context as it has been marked by political transition preceded by the Zapatista insurrection in Chiapas. The article then describes Schmelkes's approach and her most significant contributions to the work of the GCIBE. We argue that Schmelkes's main contribution was her commitment to building bridges between the research findings, the Indigenous demands contained in the San Andrés agreements, and the Mexican state. The depth of the challenges faced by Indigenous education in Mexico, and the extent of racism in the country were some of the challenges faced by her direction.

Indigenous Education in Mexico: Indigenous Students' Voices

“…Education and Indigenous people are intertwined discourses that gave birth to many different educational initiatives (Tinajero & Englander, 2011). Much has been written on Mexico's new educational initiatives, especially regarding its official (bilingual) intercultural programs (Aguilar Nery, 2004;Arnaut, 2010;Bertely, 2003;Bertely, Gasché, & Podestá, 2008;Coronado Suzán, 1992;Cuevas Suárez, 2004;Dietz, 2005;Fierro Evans & Rojo Pons, 2012;Flores Farfán, 2011;García & Velasco, 2012;González, 2009;Hamel, 2001;Muñoz Cruz, 2004;Podestá Siri, 2009;Schmelkes, 2005). Hence, the following literature review outlines four major problems in (bilingual) intercultural education initiatives.…”

“…In Mexico, educational policies are still centralized in Mexico City, and there is no regionalization of educational programs to give Indigenous peoples the possibility to participate in the design of content and methods of school curricula (Muñoz Cruz, 2004). Bilingual teachers generally adhere to the same pedagogical practices as those emanating from a Spanish monolingual ideology-a product of their own learning (García & Velasco, 2012); for instance, they have never been trained to teach from their own Indigenous world perspectives (Podestá Siri, 2009 There is no continuity between the two (Fierro Evans & Rojo Pons, 2012). Second, the problem is also political because the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (i.e., National Union of Education Workers), which has around 1.2 million union members, is a strong political force in Mexico and plays a "structural obstacle" in the reform of the Mexican education system (Arnaut, 2010;Bertely et al, 2008) because it is votecatching and corrupt.…”