Fewer classes, more soccer: Mexico changes school calendar for the World Cup
Teachers and parents are furious they were not consulted about bringing forward the summer holidays by more than a month
Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education (SEP) has announced “adjustments” to this year’s school calendar for elementary and high schools across the country, both public and private, due to the World Cup. Although in its official statement the ministry specified that its decision is also due to “the high temperatures” and “extraordinary heat waves,” there is no record of this happening before, regardless of the heat waves recorded in other years during Mexico’s summer months. Just a few minutes after the Secretary of Public Education Mario Delgado’s announcement, teachers took to social networks to complain that they had not been taken into account and to warn that it will now be practically impossible to teach the complete curriculum to the more than 29 million students in the country.
According to an official statement from the federal government, the measure emerged from a meeting of the National Council of Educational Authorities (Conaedu): “Requirements were raised in advance by 10 states, as well as a request presented in working meetings with the National Union of Education Workers [SNTE],” it said.
However, after the changes were announced, dozens of teachers from all over Mexico expressed their displeasure. The changes have also disrupted the plans of parents who coordinate their vacations, work schedules, and daily routines with their children’s school dates.
“I did not support the decision,” said one teacher. “We have not asked for these changes; do not blame us,” wrote two more. “This type of decision should involve more planning and organization; for months, families, students, and teachers have been organizing activities, vacations, work, and personal commitments based on the official calendar established at the beginning of the school year,” said another.
Parents consulted about the decision have said it is a change that puts their source of income at risk. “It puts me in a complicated situation: what do I do with my children for two months as a working mother?” said Adriana Montoya, who has two children and lives in Mexico City. “And it’s not that the school is a nursery, but clearly, [as an employee] you can’t ask for so many days off because even after working at the same place for years, you don’t have the right to so many days. And as a freelancer, I can’t pause my activities because I don’t have a secure salary. In any case, the reasons given for doing it are an insult to children and intelligence.”
Sylvia Munguía, a mother of two children in the state of Sinaloa, added: “For me, it is a drawback academically. My primary school child will need those weeks, I think. And although I have someone to take care of the children, it is an extra burden for my parents, who also help me.” Munguía adds that in her experience, heatwaves also occur in September, and the issue of the weather had not been a problem before. “At the end of the day, the heat is always there,” she said.
The official calendar established by the SEP for the current academic year (2025-2026) sets out 185 effective days of classes. It officially started in September 1, 2025, and was set to end on July 15. With the changes, the course will end on June 5 — more than a month earlier — with a return date (2026-2027) of August 31.
“With this measure, the educational authorities guarantee compliance with the curriculum and programs, as well as giving attention to the needs expressed by the states and the country’s international commitment,” the ministry’s statement reads, referring to the 13 matches that will be played in Mexico, in the stadiums of Mexico City, Guadalajara, Jalisco, and Monterrey, in Nuevo León.
Several teachers have decided to question the increase in workload due to the changes. “I am a practicing teacher, and I am dissatisfied with this,” said Mauricio Benítez. “We are already under pressure to finish the current month’s program, and now with this, the children will leave without completing their learning.” Another primary school teacher, who asked not to be named, added: “After the pandemic, being a teacher has become more complicated. The children do not have a good foundation and will continue to lag behind. Education is still a political tool.”
“An unacceptable error”
In a statement, Mexico’s National Union of Parents (UNPF), an organization that has been promoting and defending the rights of parents in the country since 1971, rejected the SEP’s decision and described it as “an unacceptable error.” They also pointed out that the change will increase teachers’ workload and worsen the learning gaps Mexico has long shown in national and international assessments.
“Using the World Cup as an argument to cut the school calendar is unacceptable. The education of our children cannot be sacrificed for a sporting event that will be held in only three of the 2,500 municipalities [...] This is further proof that the SEP’s improvised approach will have irreversible consequences on the weak national education system,” the UNPF said.
In its statement, the UNPF also demanded that Claudia Sheinbaum’s government reconsider and revoke the agreement reached on Thursday, publish the technical analysis that justifies the decision, and guarantee the minimum number of effective school days for the millions of students affected
With the general minimum wage in Mexico set at 315 pesos a day (about $18), most families simply won’t have the income to attend any of the matches being played in the country, in what is already billed as “the most expensive tournament in history.sets”
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