Courtesy of The Telesecundaria website

Telesecundaria was established in 1968 to respond to the needs of rural Mexican communities where schools for grades 7-9 were not available, either because there were too few students or there were no teachers interested.

This program uses televisions to carry out most of the teaching load, even though each facility has at least one on-site teacher who supervises the students and is available to help with questions, projects, or other concerns.

Courtesy of El Periodico de Magisterio

Telesecundaria has been successful in reaching the remote towns that were usually inhabited by fewer than 2,500 people who have low primary education completion and low enrollment beyond the primary level.

Following the educational reform of 1993 and the introduction of satellite transmission, the program experienced rapid growth in scope from about 512,700 students in 1993 to about 890,400 at the end of the 1998-1999 school year. Currently, there are about 1,050,000 students enrolled in Telesecundaria.

Telesecundaria has undergone several changes throughout its 40 year life. In the earliest stages of the program, the lessons consisted of a regular teacher, called a “talking head”, delivering lectures through the television installed in each classroom. The students were provided textbooks and workbooks to follow along with the lectures and to work on exercises, applications, and evaluations. Later on, adding more sophisticated programs that offered a greater variety of lessons modified this system.

The current system implemented in 1995 uses a satellite to deliver the programs to a broader audience, combining distance education with in-person support to students, and offering the same curriculum taught in traditional schools in more urban areas of the country.

Back to Table of Contents

Next: How does it work?

Click on the picture to enter the Telesecundaria website for more information.