Cont. from front page,

According to school district superintendent José Carmen Bonilla, the education level of the whole municipality is fifth grade. The state average is sixth grade. 

Literacy rate is a barometer, one factor in comparing educational systems. Viewed from a statistical positive, the 83 percent literacy rate for San Miguel is very good; the national literacy rate of 94 percent compares favorably worldwide.

Another factor, though, is harder to measure. “Willful illiteracy” might describe the millions of people who know how to read, but just don’t do it very often.

Reading: a missing habit among sanmiguelenses University students in Mexico who fail a national-level exam usually botch the general cultural questions. “The cultural questions include politics, social and cultural issues,” said José de Jesús Lazcano, president of the University of León campus here. “General culture is acquired through reading books, magazines and newspapers, a habit most of our students do not have.”

Lazcano thinks the educational level in San Miguel is quite low. “Most of the students we receive at both high school and university levels lack responsibility, study skills and reading habits. One group of 30 students read an average of one book per year. They think doing research is going to the library, getting a book on the subject, and copying one or two paragraphs. Even worse, they might just download everything from the internet.”

“We ask our teachers to induce them read and to do good research, getting information from several books, from interviews or other sources,” said Lazcano. “Our students in advanced levels have done excellent research. They even have participated in national contests.”

The municipal Education and Culture Department, located in the municipal library at calle Pepe Llanos, recognizes that “the family is the foundation of education. Parents cannot leave all the responsibility for their children’s education to teachers, yet a majority do so. The child who receives parental support at home usually achieves better grades in school,” said Ledesma. 

He laments the lack of general knowledge of many sanmigulenses; “Home is where moral and civic values are reinforced; however, some children do not even know what we celebrate on September 16, or who think that the November 20 parade is only a sports event. They do not know that we are celebrating independence and the revolution.”

Ledesma is about to launch a school program of historical tours for children to learn the importance of San Miguel in the Mexican independence movement and in the revolution. 

Lack of parental attention to school-age children is a widespread problem. Both parents must have paid employment and many men have sought work across the border. Children are abandoned to relatives or are left unsupervised at home for several hours after school.

“We invite students who are not doing well in school to come to the municipal library for regularization classes in Spanish and mathematics, subjects with more failures among students,” said Ledesma. “CDCOM (Community Development Center) in Fraccionamiento Insurgentes has courses for parents to help their children with homework and study habits.”

Bonilla adds that the state government currently has a scholarship program called Contigo vamos a la escuela (With you we go to school) granted to 1,900 children in elementary and high school, from a total of 5,000 applications. The program requires that the child’s parents must have finished primary school. 

According to Ledesma, about 360 parents who were illiterate are already in this program and INAEBA (Institute of Literacy and Basic Education for Adults) is in charge of their education. 

Contigo vamos a la escuela is for all those students who do not have other scholarship support. “Teachers in all the schools in the state of Guanajuato have been instructed to identify students who may leave school due to family economic pressures and encourage them to apply for the scholarship,” said Bonilla. 

Ledesma said that local government spends about 2,000,000 pesos a year on education, of which 600,000 are for local scholarships, 1,000,000 in local government grants to the state Contigo program and the rest for other educational programs.

Schools in San Miguel The municipality of San Miguel currently enrolls 42,000 students in basic education—(M)kindergarten, primary and secondary schools. Only half receive any kind of scholarship or support. 

San Miguel has 128 public kindergartens (27 urban and 101 rural) and 13 private ones. Public primary schools number 197 (35 urban and 162 rural), with 13 private institutions. Of the 50 secondary schools, 44 are rural, all but one of which are telesecundarias (classes are given via TV under the supervision of one teacher for all subjects). The other six are normal schools, with nine private secondary schools. 

For senior high school, there are nine videobachilleratos (similar to the telesecundaria, but at senior high school level), of which only one is in urban San Miguel. The city is home to nine private senior high schools and three public senior high schools (fees required): El Pípila, CBTIS (Centro de Bachillerato Tecnológico Industrial y de Sercvicios) and CECITEG (Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos de Guanajuato). 

Preparatoria abierta (Open High School) is another option for high school students. They study high school subjects at home, following a study guide and passing exams. The information center for this program is in Heroínas Insurgentes school on Recreo. 

For college students, there are only three private universities in the city: the University of León; Universidad Continente Americano (American Continent University); and Centro de Estudios Superiores de Allende. A new university, and the only public one in San Miguel, the Universidad Técnica del Norte de Guanajuato, will open in September in the El Pípila High School facilities.

One of the institutions that offers senior high school and university studies is the University of León (UDL), located in the former Colegio de Sales on the Plaza Cívica in the historic center. 

UDL receives students from several schools in San Miguel. “For university level, most of our students come from CBTIS and some from Las Casas and El Pípila. For high school level we receive students from both private and public schools, such as Fray Pedro de Gante, Milenio or Fuego Nuevo,” explained Lazcano.

Top graduate from UDL, students must pass an exam called CENEVAL, a national-level exam with about 3,000 questions on the area of study, which includes general cultural questions. 

A university degree is required of teachers at UDL. “Now, we are asking our teachers to have postgraduate studies, too,” said Lazcano. 


To be a teacher 

To be a primary school teacher in Mexico, one must have the teacher degree (Normal). Currently the Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP (the federal department for public education), has a program for teachers called “Carrera magisterial” in which teachers must prepare themselves through postgraduate studies in order to increase their salaries.

“Teachers in public schools earn about 3,600 pesos a month,” said Bonilla. “They may increase their salaries through postgraduate studies or workshops offered by SEP. By passing an exam which registers their level, they also increase their salaries. Eighty percent of the state’s teachers have joined this program.” 

	Illiteracy		Total population		Total Illiterate		Percentage
	México		103,263,388		5,747,813		6%
	State of Guanajuato		4,900,000		332,210		7%
	Municipality of Allende (San Miguel)		140,000		24,300		17%

 
  
   





Second San Miguel woman murdered
By Jesús Ibarra


Another San Miguel woman was murdered Monday evening, August 6, the second in a month. The murder was not committed in San Miguel—(M)like the case of the woman murdered in Parque Juárez—(M)but in San José Iturbide and a suspect was caught only three days later. 

In the early morning of August 7, the dead body of a young woman was found at Presa del Cedro, near the rural community of Tierra Blanca, in San José Iturbide, about 40 kilometers north of San Miguel. The woman was identified as María del Rocío Rodríguez Vázquez, 26, who lived in San Miguel, where she worked as a secretary. 

According to District Attorney César Augusto Gasca Toledo, a cell phone found in Rocío’s bag contained a San José Iturbide phone number. “The number belonged to Salomón López Mejía, 24, who lived in San José Itubride and who was asked to come in to make a staement,” said Gasca. 

The District Attorney announced López’s statement led them to Lauro Ferro Gutiérrez, 24, a friend of his from San José. Ferro was detained early on Thursday, August 9, in the rural community of Tunillo de Arriba, in San José. 

According to both men’s statements, they rode a motorcycle to San Miguel about 2pm on August 6. They met Rocío and invited her to San José Iturbide. López went home around 10pm. Rocío asked Ferro to take her back to San Miguel and he refused. He apparently took her to Presa del Cedro, in the rural community of Tierra Blanca. Police from Tierra Blanca were on the other side of the presa, and investigated when they saw motorcycle lights and heard a shot. 

As we went to press, Ferro remained detained under a judge’s order.