In Mexico, 11 State Governments Commit and Take Action to Ensure On-Time Early Literacy for Children

The Ministries of Education of 11 Mexican state governments announced their commitment to making foundational learning an educational priority and to implementing concrete actions in classrooms to address one of the most urgent challenges facing education systems around the world: ensuring that girls and boys learn to read and write on time, before the end of third grade in primary school.

The Ministries of Education of Campeche, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán are implementing systemic policies, supported by Fundación Instituto Natura, UNESCO, and partners such as Fundación Coppel, Fundación Compartamos, and Promotora Social México. In 2025, the states of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, and Durango will join these efforts, having reorganized their priorities so that on-time reading and writing become central to their next school year.

The announcement was made during a press conference and as part of the event organized by Fundación Instituto Natura and UNESCO at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL): “Mexico Learns by Reading.”

The heads of the Ministries of Education of Tamaulipas, Yucatán, and Coahuila shared experiences and testimonials about the impact these policies are having on children in their states and how they are creating the conditions, activating state and regional structures, and aligning resources, regulations, and actions toward a common objective, while seeking long-term sustainability.

State policies focused on foundational learning began in the 2021–2022 school year and have benefited more than 1.1 million students, with 50,000 teachers and educational staff in 17,000 schools.

Currently, almost 25,000 teachers and 6,000 support staff have been certified through training pathways that provide them with didactic and pedagogical strategies, tools, and instruments, as well as educational projects that strengthen speaking, reading, and writing skills among primary school children.

UNESCO is supporting Fundación Instituto Natura, state governments, and multiple civil society and private-sector organizations in monitoring and evaluating these initiatives.

Fundación Instituto Natura México and UNESCO in Mexico emphasized that this simultaneous announcement of commitments and actions reflects a strategy grounded in a solid political commitment reaffirmed by multiple entities. As a result, more state education systems are expected to join.

The progress and commitments presented by the heads of the Ministries of Education of Aguascalientes, Campeche, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Yucatán were recognized.

Likewise, teachers from Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Sonora, Veracruz, and Yucatán—who have spent at least two school years working on state policies for foundational learning—were recognized and rewarded through a series of academic activities on current issues in reading and writing promotion. Fundación SM and Both Consultoría en Educación offered these activities.

The Secretary of Education of Jalisco, Juan Carlos Flores Miramontes, highlighted the actions the Jalisco government is undertaking to improve reading comprehension and expressed his interest in joining with a state policy tailored to Jalisco’s schools and focused on achieving on-time early literacy.