SNTE Proposes Sanctions for Unfounded Accusations Against Teachers in Quintana Roo

Cancún, Quintana Roo — The National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) is pushing a state-level initiative to protect Quintana Roo teachers from unfounded accusations and public shaming on social media, and to allow penalties against those who make such claims.

José Arimael Salas Alcocer, the union’s secretary general in Quintana Roo, said the state currently has no specific protocols to shield teachers in these situations, although regulations do exist covering student coexistence in schools. In response, the union is drafting a state proposal alongside efforts being promoted in Mexico’s federal Congress to strengthen the legal protection of education workers.

Salas Alcocer said the union is also working with the state Education Secretariat to draw up specific protocols for handling cases in which teachers are accused and publicly exposed.

According to the union leader, about 85 percent of accusations filed against teachers have turned out to be unfounded once the corresponding investigations were completed. He stressed that some cases do confirm wrongdoing, and that the goal is not to block complaints but to address the consequences of allegations that are never substantiated.

The proposal would allow sanctions against parents who accuse teachers without evidence and expose them on social media, particularly when authorities later determine that the reported conduct never occurred.

“That is where there should also be a sanction for parents who accuse teachers without grounds, because it is easy to say ‘forgive me,’ but who compensates the moral damage?” Salas Alcocer said.

The secretary general said the union has recorded at least three cases this year of teachers who, despite being cleared, faced professional and personal fallout from the accusations — including leaving their posts, transferring to another school or even moving to another state for their own protection.

Among them, he cited a school principal in Playa del Carmen who was detained, handcuffed and later exposed on social media following an accusation. Investigators never substantiated the allegations, Salas Alcocer said, but the educator had to change schools for his own safety.

The union leader said such cases show the need for mechanisms that protect not only students but also education workers from accusations and online attacks.