VIM Background

Mexico offers three levels of public education: primaria (elementary school, grades 1-6), secundaria (jr. high, grades 7-9) and preparatoria (high school, grades 10-12).

All of the villages have a primaria, although smaller villages may only have a one-room schoolhouse with one teacher for all grades. Some of the villages do not have a secundaria and families cannot afford to send their children to a different town.

In the villages with a secondaria, instruction in different subjects is all done by television (one-way). Only the larger towns have preparatorias, so it is rare for a child from a Mayan village to complete high school. Most of the higher education in the Yucatan peninsula is in the city of Merida.