30th Binational Meeting of the Mexico-US Teacher Exchange Program in Zacatecas

30th Binational Meeting of the Mexico-US Teacher Exchange Program in Zacatecas

• The meeting is being held from October 8-10 in Zacatecas.
• More than 6,000 K-12 students have participated in the program.
• IME head Luis Gutiérrez Reyes recognizes 79 teachers who participated in the 2023 Teacher Exchange Program.

From October 8-10, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and Education (SEP) are holding the 30th Binational Meeting of the Mexico-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program (PROBEM) 2023, to discuss and exchange experiences between educators from both nations, and to jointly review programs to ensure that students from both countries begin, continue and conclude their education. This year, teaching strategies will be agreed on for the New Mexican School (NEM) for migrant communities living abroad and those who are returning.

At the inauguration, Undersecretary of Primary Education Martha Velda Hernández Moreno reported that more than 6,000 K-12 students have participated in PROBEM. The program promotes the students' identification with Mexico, teaches civil responsibility, promotes respect for human dignity and interculturality, and fulfills President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's maxim of leaving no one behind and leaving no one out. She said that the Mexican government recognizes the presence of the migrant population and includes it in the study plans and goals of the New Mexican School (NEM), which is why it welcomes the participation of 79 Mexican teachers in teaching English, indigenous languages and Spanish to Mexican children and adolescents living in the U.S.

The head of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME), Luis Gutiérrez Reyes, reaffirmed his commitment to continue promoting educational programs that ensure decent living conditions for the more than 12 million Mexicans. He said that the great challenge is for all the states in Mexico and the U.S. to participate, in order to continue making progress. In addition, he commended the 79 teachers who participated in person and virtually in the Teacher Exchange Program 2023, offering their knowledge and experience to strengthen the Mexican culture, traditions and identity of migrant children.

On behalf of Zacatecas Governor David Monreal Ávila, Zacatecano Migrante Secretary Iván Reyes Millán welcomed the fact that the 30th PROBEM Binational Meeting was being held in Zacatecas, a state with such active migration. He said that 56 Zacatecan teachers have participated in the program from 2017 to 2023, and he highlighted the importance of working at both the federal and state level to allocate resources to all the educational programs that the IME provides to Mexicans abroad.

In her welcoming remarks to the participants, Zacatecas Education Secretary Maribel Villalpando Haro expressed her gratitude to the organizers for having chosen Zacatecas for the meeting. She said that, since the beginning of his administration, Governor David Monreal Ávila has taken on the challenge of transforming and repairing the social fabric through education, as an ideal pathway for transformation, wellbeing and progress.

Florida Migrant Interstate Program Director Lucía Valdivia-Sánchez said that PROBEM began as a dream and today, 30 years later, it is the most successful program and has had the greatest impact on education for Mexican children and adolescents living in the United States. She explained that when teachers participate in exchanges, they not only makes a great impact on the students, but also on their families, creating strong ties that impact the entire town.

For three days, SRE and SEP officials, directors of U.S. Interstate Education Programs, and partners in both countries will hold various roundtables.

Binational Meeting of the Mexico-US Teacher Exchange Program 2023

The 30th PROBEM meeting demonstrates clearly that coordinated work and support at all three levels of government is the correct way to improve the education of the Mexican diaspora, through the new focus on diplomacy that is close to the people and with the national movement of the New Mexican School that has taken on the commitment and coordinated action of both federal and state educational authorities.

All participants agreed that, by improving the educational level of the Mexican immigrant and returning communities, they will be able to organize, empower themselves, develop their leadership capacity, and integrate themselves into their communities, while having pride and respect for their cultures of origin.