Mexico’s troubled education system exposed on film

¡De panzazo!, a new documentary by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Loret de Mola depicting Mexico’s failing education system premiered to much controversy this week in the country’s capital.

The film exposes the sad realities of Mexico’s public and private education by observing the daily lives of students and teachers, union leaders’ offices and the upper ranks of Mexico’s education authorities.

Three years in the making, the documentary includes alarming statistics and includes shots filmed by students who were lent cameras and captured broken classroom windows and teachers chatting on their mobile phones during classes.

“We wanted to give a voice to the people, “ said Rulfo in a press conference, “More than a bequest, [the documentary] is an invitation to reflection.”

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that the average Mexican spends just 8.6 years in school, the world average is 11.9 years. Only 64 of 100 students entering primary schools in the country actually complete it. And of these, only 46 go on to secondary studies.

On the other hand, the OECD also reports that Mexico is the world’s highest investor of public money in the education sector - 20.6 per cent of government spending. The world average is 12.9 per cent.

The film also shows that private school students are not better off than those on the public system but that didn’t stop union leaders from accusing the film of pushing for the privatisation of education in Mexico in heated debates.

Rulfo and Loret de Mola suggest that greed and corruption amongst teachers’ unions and politicians are the roots to the problem exposing government officials illegally cashing in on education funds and succumbing to union pressure to avoid changes in the system.

Many high profile authorities were interviewed for the film, including Elba Esther Gordillo, the leader of Mexico’s National Educational Workers Union (SNTE), the largest trade union in Latin America. She has been often accused of overspending the union’s finances, most notably for buying 59 hummers to SNTE leaders while students are forced to attend classes in dire conditions.

Amongst those attending the film's premiere were Josefina Vázquez Mota and Enrique Peña - both will be candidates for the next Mexican presidential elections - and actor Gael García Bernal.