Mexico faces the same trend of privatization of education. Public education is increasingly defunded and as quality decreases and teachers are absent from class to participate in strikes, families are forced to either use their saving to send their children to private schools or withdraw their children from the school system altogether. The Normalista school system or The Raul Isidro Burgos Normal Rural School in Mexico is one of the last opportunities available for rural students to obtain free quality university education. The Normalista schools were set up after the Mexican revolution in 1926 to train teachers in rural communities for free in order to bring quality education back to their communities. The Normalistas are also known for their community action throughout their schooling which involves: “tending to the sick, overseeing the building of water systems, and serving as intermediaries to obtain rural bank loans for cooperatives, as well as providing disaster relief, and advocating for the country’s poor.” With for-profit education on the rise, the government has targeted them in budget cut plans and where there once existed 45 Normalista schools now only 15 remain due to imposed tuition costs that force school closures with not enough students able to afford the price.
In 2014, students attending one of these Normalista schools called Ayotzinapa attended a protest in Iguala to protect their right to public education, three were shot dead by police without warning. Just a week later, three bus loads of students from this same school traveled through Iguala once more en route to march with fellow students in Mexico City in commemoration of the anniversary of the Tlateloco student massacre occurring years earlier. One of these buses was intercepted and 43 of these students were abducted and killed by police as ordered by the Mayor of Iguala.
In 2014, students attending one of these Normalista schools called Ayotzinapa attended a protest in Iguala to protect their right to public education, three were shot dead by police without warning. Just a week later, three bus loads of students from this same school traveled through Iguala once more en route to march with fellow students in Mexico City in commemoration of the anniversary of the Tlateloco student massacre occurring years earlier. One of these buses was intercepted and 43 of these students were abducted and killed by police as ordered by the Mayor of Iguala.