Blog Post #5 As Gangs Move In On Mexico's Schools, Teachers say "Enough"

In Acapulco, Mexico teachers are being threatened to hand over half of their pay or be potentially risking their lives. Some believe that the cause of this is an unintended consequence of the government’s strategy in the drug war. Hundreds of schools have shut down after anonymous threats began. Even schools that haven’t been threatened are still shutting down so they won’t have to deal with it. The Zetas, a powerful criminal organization are making teachers pay, which they call protection money. 7,000 teaches came together and protested, resulting in the governor promising new security measures. The teachers still have to decide on whether the new security measures are enough for them to return to school and continue to teach.

It’s hard to believe that teachers and students in Acapulco, Mexico are subject to violent threats while trying to gain education. The fact that some teachers are coming together to protest against the ones making these threats shows their good character and that they care about educating these kids. Their lives are on the line everyday that teach and are risking their lives by protesting against these criminal organizations. Increased police patrols, panic buttons, telephones, and video cameras are the new security measures that are being proposed by the government to the schools. This sounds like enough to detect the people making and executing the threats, but it might not be enough to prevent threats from happening. In order to get enough teachers to come back to open the schools up the government will need to find a way to better guarantee their safety. Increasing their salaries might encourage more teachers to return to school, but I don’t believe their life is worth an affordable salary that can be paid to them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/world/americas/mexican-teachers-push-back-against-gangs-extortion-attempts.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=education