Translating Intercultural Bilingual Education into Practice

Historically, education has been used as a tool of assimilation towards Indigenous Peoples. Representing a shift away from this, in recent years, many countries in Latin America have adopted Intercultural Bilingual Education, promoting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to education in their languages and respective to their cultures. Mexico in particular, establishes Intercultural Bilingual Education as a right of all Indigenous Peoples in various laws and the Constitution of Mexico City protects this right for its Indigenous population. This study investigates the extent to which Indigenous Peoples’ rights to education, as outlined in international human rights instruments and reinforced in Mexican law, are implemented in Mexico City, accounting for its growing urban Indigenous population. Through semi-structured interviews with government officials as well as with directors and teachers from a public primary school in Mexico City, this study illustrates the role the state and educators play in the implementation of Intercultural Bilingual Education. The findings presented in the study suggest the significance of Indigenous Peoples and educators in this process, in comparison with the Mexican government, whose improved measures can help increase urban Indigenous students’ access to their education rights.