They now denounce books in English

Mexico City.- The call by the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) to prepare textbooks for teaching the English language was challenged by the National Chamber of the Mexican Publishing Industry (Caniem) and the legal appeal has already been admitted by a judge.

On February 1, the General Directorate of Educational Materials, headed by Max Arriaga, and the National Commission for Free Textbooks (Conaliteg) launched the invitation to those who wish to participate in the process for the “creation, development, innovation and review of educational materials and teaching aids” for basic education.

“We are very concerned about the way in which educational authorities have systematically violated the Law to produce free textbooks; first, the secondary ones and now, the English ones,” Hugo Setzer, president of Caniem, lamented in an interview.

Caniem, which represents the country’s editors, described the call as discriminatory and “openly violating the law,” warning that it violates the rights to publication, education, freedom of expression and access to information.

“The SEP call, if it materializes in books of very dubious quality, will further marginalize millions of students and teachers from the possibilities that the English language offers for professional life,” said Setzer.

For this reason, the Chamber initiated amparo proceedings 499/2024, which was admitted by Judge Celina Angélica Quintero, in the Seventeenth District Court for Administrative Matters in Mexico City.

Caniem criticized that the call was published “untimely and outside the regulations”, that is, that the federal government agencies have not adhered to the existing study programs for the production of these materials in a foreign language.