The Oaxaca local of the CNTE teachers’ union has announced that it will implement an alternative education plan in the state that eliminates English language instruction.

Section 22 leader Eloy López Hernández and spokesman Wilbert Santiago explained that the CNTE’s curriculum stipulates the teaching of indigenous languages rather than English and puts an end to teachers’ grading of students, who will instead evaluate their own educational progress and that of their peers.

The plan also proposes that two teachers work with each class – one who provides academic instruction and another who teaches extracurricular courses.

López and Santiago said that copies of the CNTE curriculum will be distributed to 13,500 public schools in all 570 municipalities in Oaxaca.

The education plan is supported by alternative textbooks developed by the CNTE, which have been criticized because of their strong leftist ideological bent.

Santiago said that schools in Oaxaca will take delivery of the official texts developed and distributed by the National Commission of Free Textbooks but their use won’t be a priority.

“We’ll distribute our own materials in photocopies . . .” he said.

López, meanwhile, rejected reports that the CNTE has taken back control of the allocation of teaching positions in Oaxaca.

“We didn’t take or regain control of [teaching] positions . . .We’ve demanded that the state have responsibility,” he said.

López said the CNTE will be watchful of the processes used to allocate those positions and that the union meets regularly with Oaxaca and federal education authorities but said “that doesn’t mean having control.”

Source: Milenio (sp), Quadratin (sp)