Nine Private Schools in Playa del Carmen and Cancun on the Brink of Closure

Schools wait to know how many students will return to decide whether to close or continue.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN – Nine private schools in Quintana Roo are at risk of not reopening their doors in the upcoming 2021-2022 school year due to economic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aída Flores Covarrubias, President of the National Association of Private Education Institutions (ANIEP), explained that the administrative personnel of the institutions are still waiting for the result of this year’s enrollment numbers to define whether or not they can continue.

However, quickly they will need to inform families if they will remain open or are forced to shut their doors to avoid further uncertainty between parents and students.

The schools that are at risk are mainly located in the municipalities of Solidaridad and Benito Juárez, and serve students at the basic levels; preschool, primary and secondary school.

Flores Covarrubias said that among the nine schools in question there is one university that could resort to discontinuing certain course studies and degrees to ease their financial burden. They rent the facilities, which have not been used in a year and a half.

“It is not going to close, but it has some degrees that it is going to cancel due to lack of enrollment,” she said.

Regarding the enrollment that private schools maintain, the president of ANIEP in Quintana Roo pointed out that the 2020-2021 cycle ended with 49 thousand recorded students, of which approximately 13% (6,370) are expected to emigrate to the public school system or move out of the state.

“They have requested all their documentation at the end of the school year so as not to enroll the following year and see the possibility of transferring to other schools. Most are moving into the public school system, although there are also cases of change of address or city,” Covarrubias explained.

Source: SIPSE