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After almost eighteen months of lockdown measures, Mexican teachers have expressed their commitment to support a cautious, orderly and responsible return to the classroom for the 2021-2022 school year.

After convening a national review meeting, on 7 August, Mexico’s national education workers’ union, the SNTE, decided to endorse the back-to-school agreement jointly drafted by the country’s public education and health ministries. The agreement lays the foundations for deploying the measures and strategies needed to make schools safe spaces for the education community, reducing the risk of infection and protecting its members’ health and wellbeing.

The general secretary of the SNTE, Alfonso Cepeda, said, “The SNTE will keep up its efforts to ensure that schools are safe spaces, with the infrastructure and services needed, especially drinking water.”

Cepeda emphasised that the return to the classroom will help reduce the lockdown stress and anxiety experienced by students and underlined that one of the primary objectives is to close the educational achievement gaps exacerbated by the pandemic.