Higher education for rural areas: The Cerro Hueco Rural Teacher Training College, Chiapas (1931-1935)

Abstract

As part of the Rural Teacher Training Colleges project in Mexico, launched in 1922, many states of the Mexican federal republic witnessed the emergence of these institutions, which were designed to train teachers for rural areas. In Chiapas, this goal was achieved in 1931 with the opening of the Cerro Hueco Rural Teacher Training College near the state capital, a boarding school that housed more than 100 people, including students, teachers, and service personnel. Initially, its organization and activities aimed to comply with official guidelines and curricula, but very soon problems arose due to the shortage of financial resources, the lack of adequate facilities, and the presence of indigenous students who made teaching difficult because they did not speak Spanish and lacked basic knowledge. Finally, between 1935 and 1936, faced with the need to find a region more suited to the needs of the Normal School, it was decided to move it to Plan de Ayala, in the municipality of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, thus beginning a new phase under the name of Escuela Regional Campesina Mactumactzá (Mactumactzá Regional Rural School).