The state Congress approved reforms to establish the obligation to teach the Mayan language at the basic educational level.
The Congress of Yucatan approved on Wednesday reforms to the Political Constitution of the State to establish the obligation to teach the teaching of the Mayan language at the basic educational level.
The reforms were approved unanimously and aim to rescue and preserve the entity’s native language, according to local lawmakers during the explanatory statement.
Before the ruling in favor, the deputy Paulina Viana Gómez, said that, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), Yucatan is among the states with the highest proportion of indigenous people within its population, with about 30 % of the total.
Likewise, the Institute indicated that this entity registers the highest percentage of the native-speaking population in the country, with more than 570,000 Maya speakers.
“However, it is important to note that the percentage of people who speak the Mayan language in the State has been decreasing steadily and drastically in recent years,” he said.
This is due, he added, to the lack of interest in executing public policies that rescue and strengthen our mother tongue.
The constitutional changes approved by all the political forces of the state Congress seek to establish in the basic education system the conditions and procedures to rescue, promote and preserve the native language of Yucatan.
The reform is consistent with the provisions of article 28, numeral 3, of Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples of independent countries of the International Labor Organization.
Similarly, with article 2, section B, the second section of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States.
The law will enter into force once it is published in the Official State Gazette, however, this new regulation will not be applied immediately, but gradually and under the coordination of the Ministry of Education of the Yucatan government.
Source: notimex, milenio
The Mazatlan Post
