contempt impressive gains in enrollment levels over the previous forty years, remarkable interrelated problems plague the Mexican education system in the early 1990s. Many primary- and secondary-school-age students, particularly in rural areas, fail to complete their education programs. Instructional quality, as measured by student test scores, remains low. Although operation of all nonuniversity education was given to the states in 1993, the system continues to be overly centralized and subject to bureaucratic encumbrances. In addition, students are often poorly prepared to meet the challenges of a global economy.

Throughout most of Mexico’s history, beginning with the colonial time, education was the task of the Catholic Church. After freedom, Mexicans were concerned about the church imposing its values and beliefs on the population and started a public educational system. Religious determines of any sort were banned in primary school. The federal government controls the curriculum and provides the textbooks for primary schools.