President Sheinbaum Announces 150,000 New High School Spots and Phases Out Entrance Exams

San Pablo del Monte, Tlaxcala — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced plans to create 150,000 new high school places between 2025 and 2026 and expand the elimination of entrance exams to more states during an event in Tlaxcala on Friday.

Speaking at the expansion of the National High School program in San Pablo del Monte, Sheinbaum said the government aims to guarantee universal access to high school education. She was joined by Tlaxcala Governor Lorena Cuéllar.

“The central objective is that no young person is left without a high school place due to lack of space or administrative barriers like the admission exam,” Sheinbaum said.

More Schools and Expanded Campuses

Sheinbaum explained that a national diagnosis revealed thousands of students fail to enter high school primarily due to distance from their homes and lack of continuity between middle school and high school.

The federal government is implementing four strategies in response: building new campuses, expanding existing schools, opening afternoon shifts in middle schools, and creating a new model called “Ciberbachillerato Margarita Maza,” which will combine physical classrooms with technological tools.

In 2025 alone, authorities created more than 44,000 new spaces. For 2026, the initial target was 72,915 additional places, but Sheinbaum announced an increase of 32,400 more spaces, bringing the total to 150,000 new places by the end of 2026.

Phasing Out Entrance Exams

One of the most significant announcements was the progressive elimination of high school entrance exams, a model already implemented in Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Applicants will now choose options on a platform and be assigned priority to their first choices.

The president argued that completing middle school automatically grants the right to attend high school, so the state must guarantee sufficient infrastructure.

Educational Reform

During her address, Sheinbaum linked education policy to the so-called Fourth Transformation project initiated in 2018 by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

She highlighted that more than 13 million people have emerged from poverty during this period and that all high school students now receive scholarships.

She also confirmed that the New Mexican School and free textbooks will continue, with the addition of more content about women protagonists in national history.

From Tlaxcala, the president reiterated that public education is a right, not a privilege, and maintained that expanding the National High School program is a central commitment of her administration to reduce inequalities and strengthen social mobility in Mexico.