MEXICO: Program on Distance Secondary Education for Adults (SEA)

Context

 According to official information for 1995 provided by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information (INEGI), 28.3% of the Mexican population over the age of 15 have completed primary education, though not secondary education –usually because of financial reasons. Hence the need to provide an educational service that is within their means. The majority of the population lives in urban or suburban areas where there exists a greater demand for adult education services, especially at the secondary level.
SEA is an option for adults (aged 18 and over) who have not attended or did not complete secondary school because they had to work or because of their age and therefore were unable to attend school on a daily basis.
According to a 1996 survey, the majority of potential SEA students are women (57% women), 60% of them are part of the labor force, and most of them earn low incomes. Demand for SEA is considerably higher in urban and semi-urbanized areas, where the highest proportion of persons who have not completed secondary education reside. Above all, it seems that the hope required to continue with one's studies is kept alive by the desire to find a better job and have a better life. On average, this population has been out of the education system for 12 years.

Objetives

Broad Objectives
  • Contribute to fulfillment of the constitutional mandate that makes secondary education compulsory.
  • Help reduce the number of adults who have not completed secondary education by means of distance learning supported with printed and audiovisual educational materials.
  • Provide opportunities for the adult population to complete secondary education and to access other levels of education if they desire.
  • Contribute to an improvement in the quality of life and expectations of adults who attend SEA.
    Specific Objectives
  • Continue to develop independent learning.
  • Learn about and enjoy culture.
  • Have access to regional, national, and international information.
  • Diversify forms of expression and communication.
  • Improve education standards.
  • Construct new conceptual and methodological tools to facilitate everyday decision-making.
  • Gain a better understanding of our social and natural environments.
  • Show creativity, versatility and responsibility at work.
  • Stimulate efforts toward self-improvement.
  • Enrich expression in diverse artistic languages and develop a critical attitude in order to appreciate them.
  • Encourage and help the family to strive towards higher levels of educational achievement.
  • Have new information available for making family-related decisions.
  • Change or reaffirm patterns and values.
  • Citizen participation with greater commitment and responsibility.
  • Involvement in the political affairs of the country.
  • Know more about their rights and duties as citizens.

    Pedagogical Challenges

    The out-of-school, adult population faces many disadvantages. SEA was developed to overcome some of these obstacles by addressing those educational needs required for finding better employment. In educational terms the program basically makes use of new technologies to impart courses which are relevant to today’s job market.

    General Description

    Under the operating plan, the Ministry of Public Education (referred to as SEP in Spanish) is in charge of all aspects connected with the academic package:
  • Production of materials
  • Distribution and television broadcast
  • Training for advisers
  • Evaluation, design, and application
  • Support for implementation and follow-up The local offices of the SEP will be responsible for implementation of the program and defrayment of part of the costs. They will also be in charge of educational supervision, including issuance of certificates and program dissemination, expansion and follow-up. The program’s educational package includes 22 printed publications and 461 television programs. There is also an information video that shows experiences from the first six months of activities.

    Participating Individuals and Institutions

  • Bureau of Educational Materials and Methods, Office of the Undersecretary of Basic and Normal Education, SEP
  • Bureau of Educational Television, SEP
  • Latin-American Institute of Educative Communication (ILCE)
  • Local offices of the Ministry of Public Education - as program implementing agencies.
  • Advisers

    Budget and Financing

    As the responsibility of the SEP, the program is financed by the federal budget, and by a loan provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and administered by ILCE.

    Strengths

  • Use of satellite and television as an auxiliary educational component.
  • Joint effort at different levels of government.
  • Joint effort by different employers to offer alternative education opportunities designed to enable youths and adults to complete their basic education.
  • Materials designed taking gender issues into account and providing the necessary flexibility for adults to choose schemes more directly suited to their particular needs.

    Lessons Learned

  • Distance education is one of the most widely accepted educational trends, since it enables both coverage of large population groups around the country and optimal use of resources.
  • The business sector can be encouraged to shoulder their educational responsibilities as employers.
  • Television can be a very powerful tool for providing educational services
  • Youths and adults have the will to complete their secondary education.

    Challenges

  • Once the current stage has been completed the program must become institutionalized in each federative authority. To that end, each authority that implements the program must be provided with its own resources. At present, these authorities do not have their own budget, which prevents the program from being made more widely available.
  • Interactive materials are currently under production so as to make the educational package available on the Internet, thus enabling it to achieve increased coverage and dissemination.

    Responding to the Challenges of the Summit

    SEA addresses the mandate that came out of the Summits to make available ongoing job-training opportunities and certification of job-related competencies. It also responds to the challenges related to the use of new technologies in support of education.

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