Marx Arriaga: Why Mexico's top textbook official barricaded himself in his office for four days

"Thank you, Marx Arriaga, for bringing social critique into the classroom to build a dignified future for our children, reads one of the 11 signs hanging outside the office that the former director of Educational Materials finally vacated on Tuesday, after four days barricaded inside. Arriaga received and signed the document notifying him of his removal from the post, then walked out of Mexico's Public Education Secretariat (SEP) in southern Mexico City and headed toward the Coyoacan station on Metro Line 3."

"A couple of hours before leaving, Arriaga the architect of the free textbooks of the socalled Nueva Escuela Mexicana (NEM) received EL PAIS in a halfempty office, which was on the verge of being cleared out. While Arriaga was still inside with five collaborators, movers carried out furniture and boxes with his belongings. The three secretaries in the cubicles outside the wooden doors insisted, We're operating normally. Everything is fine. The reality, however, was that things were not entirely fine."

"Since his arrival in 2021, Arriaga had weathered a wave of criticism and lawsuits targeting the textbooks created to educate Mexico's children and young people. What ultimately led to his dismissal, however, was a request from President Claudia Sheinbaum's office to include the role of women in history. Arriaga told this newspaper that he accepts responsibility, but refused to make the changes because, he said, they did not come from the president herself but from the sewers of the Public Education Secretariat."

Marx Arriaga, director of Educational Materials and architect of the free Nueva Escuela Mexicana textbooks, barricaded himself in his office for four days before vacating. He signed the removal notice, left Mexico's Public Education Secretariat, and departed toward Coyoacan station amid chants of "you're not alone." Movers removed furniture and boxes while collaborators remained inside and secretaries insisted operations were normal. Arriaga faced criticism and lawsuits since 2021 over the textbooks. The immediate cause of his dismissal was a request from President Claudia Sheinbaum's office to include the role of women in history, which he refused, saying the changes came from the sewers of the SEP.

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