Parents in Mexico deliver over 100,000 signatures opposing textbooks with gender ideology

The National Parents’ Union in Mexico delivers 112,594 signatures to the Ministry of Public Education demanding that the distribution of school books that will be used in the 2023-2024 school year, which begins Aug. 28, 2023. / Credit: UNPF

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 25, 2023 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The National Parents’ Union (UNPF) in Mexico delivered 112,594 signatures to the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) demanding that the distribution of school books that will be used in the 2023-2024 school year, which begins on Aug. 28, be halted because of sexualized and gender ideology content inserted without parental consultation.

The signatures were gathered through platforms such as CitizenGO and were delivered to the SEP by various social organizations headed by the UNPF.

The CitizenGO campaign demanded that the printing and distribution of the school material be stopped since the parents and the educational community were not consulted about the content, as stipulated in Article 48 of the General Education Law.

According to the National Parents’ Union, “the action of the federal government is illegal for having modified the content of the textbooks without consulting the parents as established by the regulations.”

The organization is demanding that the corresponding authorities respect and comply with the law.

The new school textbooks developed by the Mexican government headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have been at the center of criticism from parents, opposition politicians, and the media because of the sexualized material with content biased by gender ideology and pedagogical errors.

Legal battle

The parents’ petition also demands that the order of the Third District Court in Administrative Matters in Mexico City be complied with. The court decreed at the end of May that the distribution of the controversial school textbooks be definitively suspended after a request for an injunction was filed by the UNPF.

The ruling orders the SEP and the National Commission for Free Textbooks to suspend the printing and delivery of educational materials and to establish a strategy that implements the approved programs for the 2023-2024 school year.

“The suspension is based on the legitimate interest that parents have in the education of our children and the need to seriously and effectively address the great challenges we face in educational matters and which were aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the UNPF stated.

Despite the fact that the SEP was notified of the court decision, it said on its social media that there is no legal impediment to continue distributing the material because the ruling is not yet final and that it will file a legal appeal.

So far the state governments of Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Jalisco, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Yucatán, and Nuevo León have suspended the delivery of books while the litigation that stops their distribution is being resolved.

The National Parents’ Union reaffirmed its commitment to the education of all preschool through high school students so that they have high quality textbooks, materials, and programs and with the requirements in pedagogical methodology, competencies, skills, and under consultation, as determined by the law.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.