CNTE Says Funding Agreed Upon with Government Hasn’t been Delivered

ByMexico Solidarity

This article by Montserrat Maldonado appeared in the August 26, 2025 edition of El Sol de México.

One week before the return to classes, Section 22 of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) lamented that the 800 million pesos promised by the Federal Government have not been paid.

During the May protests in Mexico City and the indefinite sit-in at the National Palace , the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo offered up to 800 million pesos to resolve the demands of Section 22.

Yenny Aracely Pérez, General Secretary of Section 22, CNTE

In an interview with El Sol de México, the General Secretary of Section 22, teacher Yenny Aracely Pérez, mentioned that it was never agreed that this money would go directly to the CNTE but rather to the needs of the teaching profession in Oaxaca.

“Section 22 itself does not receive any direct funding. Funding is needed to hire new teaching and administrative staff in schools and at the educational levels where it is needed, but ultimately the hiring process is the educational authority. If there is a funding gap, it is managed by the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the Oaxaca State Institute of Public Education ,” she commented.

According to the teacher, the staff shortage has significantly affected the state, as some schools remained closed last school year due to a lack of sufficient teachers.

“So far, we haven’t received any notifications indicating anything about the process for receiving the funds. We currently don’t have a confirmed date for when the budget will be available,” she emphasized.

Yenny Aracely highlighted that they have not been provided with the equipment requested since the six-year term of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, such as computers and projectors for schools in Oaxaca .

“We’re facing many bureaucratic processes that prevent agreements from being fulfilled; they’ve been putting out tenders for months, and in the end, this results in a situation of delays and non-compliance with agreements,” she stated.

Pedro Hernández, General Secretary of Section 9 of the CNTE in Mexico City, explained to this media outlet that the National Assembly must be held to assess its upcoming mobilizations.

“The expectation is that we will return, but we haven’t defined when. What is certain is that the Coordination [CNTE] will continue the mobilization not only in the streets, but also in the debate,” he shared.

For her part, Yenny Aracely said that the task now is to inform and organize all sections through the national brigade, thereby reaching sectors that had not previously been mobilized.

The CNTE ‘s greatest demand is the repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE reform. The Coordinator has explained that the 2007 ISSSTE Law, which replaced the solidarity pension scheme with one of individual accounts managed by Afores, affects their pensions, as it establishes that they be calculated from their individual savings funds.

By doing so, the amount depends on the current UMA (Unit of Measurement and Update) and not on the minimum wage, as required.

Both Section 9 of Mexico City and Section 22 of Oaxaca state that, to date, the Federal Government has not provided a real solution to this demand.

“This is a demand that has been going on for several years and has not received any attention, and during the last day of struggle, the responses we received from the Federal Government have not been satisfactory,” explained the general secretary of Section 22 .

Montserrat Maldonada graduated in Communications and Journalism from UNAM. Originally from the State of Mexico, she is a reporter on education, human rights, gender, and politics.