New school year begins with more missed class days in 17 states, study warns

Mexico’s new school year begins with a warning that students are returning to a system marked by fewer effective class days and sharply reduced funding for evaluating learning. Seventeen states increased their number of suspended school days, according to an analysis by the Education with Equity and Quality Initiative at Tecnológico de Monterrey and México Evalúa.

The study, titled “Returning, staying, learning: Seven keys to the return to school 2026-2027,” examines class attendance, school trajectories, coverage, dropout, learning outcomes and education spending. It says resources devoted to assessing learning fell 73.7% in a single year.

The figures describe a system serving 34,370,623 students, with 2,180,559 teachers and 262,351 schools across basic, upper-secondary and higher education. Women make up 50.7% of enrollment and 61.2% of teaching staff. Basic education accounts for 23.36 million students, while upper-secondary education has 5.49 million and higher education 5.52 million.

The analysis also points to gaps in access and completion. Early education coverage is only 3.73%, and upper-secondary dropout reaches 11.3%. Only 26 out of every 100 students who begin primary school go on to complete a university degree. Mexican students scored 395 points in mathematics in PISA 2022, compared with 472 for the OECD average.

Education spending represents 10% of the federal budget, five percentage points below the minimum recommended by UNESCO. The 2026-2027 calendar sets 185 class days, five fewer than the previous figure cited in the study.