The vindication of the right to access to education of the Na savi communities of Tierra Blanca and Cochoapa el Grande

The community of Cochoapa El Grande is located in the municipality of Metlatónoc, Guerrero, a Na savi region with approximately 3,000 inhabitants.  There is only one school, called Gabino Barreda School, for preschool and elementary.  For several years the school has lacked sufficient teachers to give adequate attention to the demand of children seeking preschool and elementary education.

During the 2001-2002 school year, the preschool had to be closed because of the complete absence of teachers, while in the 2003-2004 school year it only opened for children in kindergarten.  There was only one teacher and the children who according to their age would have been in the first and second year of preschool were excluded, which means approximately 100 children were left without education.  This situation continued through the 2004-2005 school year, when they were only able to enroll the children in kindergarten, leaving again approximately 100 other children from the first and second year of preschool excluded and without access to education.

Even the children in kindergarten did not have adequate access to education, because the number of students reached 86, with only one teacher, who found it impossible to give the appropriate attention that the children required.  According to the teachers’ own testimony, this number of students required that they spend more time controlling them than teaching them.