CONAFE Educators Protest Low Pay in Rural Mexico

José María Morelos, Quintana Roo — Staff of the National Council for Educational Development (CONAFE) began an indefinite protest in the municipality today, aiming to demand better salary conditions and formal recognition of the work they perform in rural and marginalized communities.

Antonio Gómez Euan, a community educator and one of the protesters, explained that the mobilization is not against the institution but seeks to make visible the reality faced by those who bring education to areas where the traditional school system does not reach.

“We walk under the sun to reach the most marginalized communities where the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) does not arrive, and yet our work is not recognized as it should be,” he stated.

INSUFFICIENT INCOME AND OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES

According to the educators, the financial support they receive is monthly and differentiated by educational level, with amounts ranging from approximately 2,600 pesos at the initial level to around 5,000 pesos at the basic level, amounts they consider insufficient given the burden of responsibilities they assume.

Gómez Euan noted that a significant portion of these resources is allocated to personal expenses to be able to teach classes, such as the purchase of teaching materials, furniture, and other basic supplies.

“From our salary, we buy materials, furniture, and everything necessary so that children have a dignified education,” he denounced.

SCHOOLS WITH BASIC DEFICIENCIES

The protesters also exposed the precarious conditions in which many CONAFE schools operate, where there persists a lack of electricity, drinking water, sanitation facilities, and adequate furniture, which hinders both the development of classes and the academic planning they conduct outside school hours.

NATIONAL REACH MOVEMENT

Finally, the educators indicated that this protest is not an isolated event but is part of a national movement, which has been joined by community educators from all 32 states of the country, who agree that their work is essential to prevent girls and boys in remote communities from being excluded from the right to education.

In José María Morelos, the protest highlights a fundamental contradiction: education reaches where no one else reaches, but those who sustain it remain invisible. That is the point over the i.