Telesecundaria, the SEP's successful televised education program, changes with the times. (Prime Time).

While the eyes of the nation have been watching for improvements and increased investment in Mexico's urban school districts during this presidential term, rural public education lags far behind--with geographical and cultural distances separating it from more modem urban centers. As schools in the capital vie for computers and Internet access, rural schools--where they exist--are usually more in need of teachers and basic materials.

The educational gulf between the city and the countryside has long been a source of concern at the Public Education Secretariat (SEP)--more so now as the need for a truly modem educational system becomes increasingly urgent in a globalizing world. The SEP's answer: the telesecundaria program. The SEP believes that its expanded and improved version of this televised education at the middle-school level will equalize educational opportunities for rural students.

Telesecundaria, created in 1968, is not a substitute for the traditional classroom setting; students still go to a schoolhouse where they are supervised for a full school day. Rather, the SEP's televised programs are used as teaching aids primarily in areas where educational resources are limited.

When the program began, telesecundaria was sent to rural schools by way of a common television signal. Today, the televised programs of telesecundaria reach students in marginalized areas via a satellite network that connects them with Mexico City. The programs are made by the SEP in Mexico City, from where they are bounced off of the SEP's two EDUSAT satellites to schools around the country for 12 hours a day.

The program has grown over the years, but according to Telesecundaria general coordinator Early Buenfild, its recent revamping was necessary.

"Education has to change as Mexico changes," he says.

This new approach to the content of telesecundaria courses is reflected in its Ethic and Civil Formation course. The students' texts, as well as the teaching materials, have undergone a series of changes under the direction of Buenfild. As democratic processes become more important in Mexico, the SEP wants telesecundaria programs to "present the subjects of laws and government, so that these subjects have more relation to the lives of the students, to instill a sense of collective responsibility," Buenfild says.

"The question is, how can we contribute to everything that society is doing?" he asks. "So the course also teaches students about health, sexuality, smoking and drug addiction. We want to deal with everything that has to do with the lives of the students--even sensitive topics."

The new material also tries to promote equality between men and women. Buenfild believes that telesecundaria can play a role in reducing sexism among new generations. "Particularly in Latin America there exists this inequality. Here we call it Mexican machismo," he says.

So, the telesecundaria programs hope to change with the times, says Buenfild. "We are now conducting a review of the educational criteria and guidelines in order to further modify our materials," he adds.

Along with this changing philosophy behind the telesecundaria program, the SEP has also expanded its summer programs.

For the first time ever, the summer program will now offer preparation courses for students entering middle-school, in addition to remedial classes for students. This change is one of the ways that the SEP is breaking with the old ways of doing things in the education system, which overemphasized rote memorization in place of a more progressive focus on analysis, creativity and a broader understanding of the material.

"We want to prevent problems before they happen rather than face them later," says Natanael Carro, another telesecundaria official.

Although no one doubts the value of improving the telesecundaria program, many in the Chamber of Deputies believe that televised education, even a revamped version, is not a panacea for Mexico's educational woes. Enrique Melendez, a PRJ deputy and head of the Commission on Public Education at the chamber, believes that a lack of money to invest in education is still the main problem.

"The serious problem here is the budget for education workers, but not just for the workers. We are aware of our lack of infrastructure and technology. But all of that is money. We need more money," says Melendez.

In this session at the Chamber, the budget for all public education was raised to 247.67 billion pesos--an increase of 13.6% over last year's 218 billion pesos. And while the education budget has never been as large as many would like, the telesecundaria program has in fact grown since its initiation.

When telesecundaria was created, it was used in 300 schools with 6,500 students. Since then, the program has grown steadily to meet the needs of more communities. By 1988, the program reached 913,609 students in 13,851 schools, while today some 1,174,467 students benefit from telesecundaria in 15,057 schools.

According to the SEP, telesecundaria provides 49,694 teachers and their students with access to educational resources that would otherwise be out of their reach. There are problems, however: Even though the SEP provides teachers with didactic materials and other support to accompany the programs, Carro identifies a lack of administrative personnel as one of the main problems the SEP faces in making telesecundaria as useful as possible.

"The teachers take responsibility for fulfilling the curriculum goals, but the other part of the school organization, the administrative process, remains a little uncontrolled," he says.

There are currently 25 teachers for every director and 55 per supervisor. Lowering these numbers, says Carro, could provide the oversight needed to see that students are getting the most out of the SEP's televised programs.

Under Mexico's federal system of educational administration, in place since October of 1992, the responsibilities of telesecundaria are shared between the General Coordination of telesecundaria--in Mexico City--and the states. The General Coordination is responsible for planning and making all programs, and for providing all the materials and educational methods that go with them. The states, for their part, operate the service locally, administering as they see fit.

The importance of the telesecundaria program is apparent when looking at the conditions of rural Mexico, where telesecundaria is used the most. The term "rural Mexico" often conjures up images of isolated, impoverished communities. And while certain rural communities in Mexico can have rather modern features, a great many more are not sufficiently large or developed to have a fully modem schoolhouse.

"There are schools in Mexico with up-to-date technology--I'm referring to the universities. But we need to build schools in communities that don't have anything."

Of the total coverage of the telesecundaria program, 60.9% is concentrated in the states of Chiapas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and Veracruz--all among the poorest states and those with high indigenous populations. According to the SEP, areas with difficult access and less than 2,500 inhabitants are given preference when it comes to distributing telesecundaria's resources. Seventy percent of telesecundaria's total usage is in communities with less than 2,500 people, with the other 30% in urban and suburban areas. Telesecundaria's use in the cities is increasing due to its affordability and effectiveness.

With more money available to education this year, the telesecundaria program will undoubtedly continue to bridge the gap between rural and urban schooling. But the gap is already wide, and as long as the government's focus is on first-rate universities, the struggle may be uphill.

"We would like to ensure that our universities have the technology of the vanguard countries while at the same time attending to the marginalized zones, but we can't do both because we'll only make the space between them wider," says Melendez. "What we really need to do is reduce this breach."

Traviss Thomas is a Mexico City-based freelance writer.