{{Short description|Mexican distance education program}} {{Refimprove|date=July 2025}} thumbnail thumbnail|Televisión Educativa Logo Since 2019. '''Telesecundaria''' is a system of distance education programs for secondary and high school students created by the government of Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Emilio |last1=Borghesan |first2=Gabrielle |last2=Vasey |title=Mexico’s Telesecundarias: A remote learning success story |url=https://voxdev.org/topic/education/mexicos-telesecundarias-remote-learning-success-story |access-date=2026-05-07 |website=VoxDev |language=en}}</ref> It is available in rural areas of the country as well as Central America, South America, Canada and the United States via satellite (Solidaridad 1 and Satmex 5).
==Background== [[File:Jóvenes_habitantes_de_la_Aldea.JPG|thumb|255px|Telesecundaria students in Villa Nueva]]
''Telesecundaria'' was born on the need to service graduates of elementary education in rural areas that were unable to continue their studies for lack of secondary schools in their areas. In 1968 ''Telesecundaria'' started at 304 classrooms and a teacher for each one of these in the states of Veracruz, Morelos, Estado de México, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and the Federal District. The initial number of students was 6 549.
* ''Secundaria general'' – General studies * ''Secundaria para trabajadores'' – for working students * ''Secundaria tecnológica industrial'' – industrial technology * ''Secundaria tecnológica agropecuaria'' – agricultural technology * ''Secundaria tecnológica pesquera'' – fishing technology
Originally, ''Telesecundaria'' transmitted black-and-white live lessons through public television channels but nowadays the lessons have been pre-recorded to ensure higher quality, images are in color and transmitted via satellite. Content now includes education on values, good habits, skills and aptitudes. By the end of 1993, ''Telesecundaria'' was broadcasting to over 9,000 schools in Mexico, serving almost 600,000 students via satellite through Morelos II. In 1994, Edusat was launched, making use of the more powerful and advanced satellite, (Solidaridad 1) capable of transmitting 24 hours a day and covering more areas.
==Service== Each facility has at least one television set, a satellite dish, a set-top box and a low-noise amplifier.
''Telesecundaria'' broadcasts more than 4,000 television programs on channel 11 of the six channels of Edusat (''Sistema de Televisión Educativa'', "Educational Television System") of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP, ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'') of Mexico to more than 16,000 rural facilities serving more than one million students nationwide. The programs are transmitted daily between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Mexico City time) and re-transmitted between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays programs pertaining high school education are transmitted. Programming is complemented with general-interest, continuing education, and other shows about traditions and customs of the states of Mexico. For educators, audio visual content on each area of knowledge is provided for them, as well as the ''Experiencias Compartidas'' ("Shared Experiences") show.
==International expansion==
===Central America=== In 1996, the head of the SEP and the ministers of Education of Central America agreed to start experimental projects of ''Telesecundarias'' for every country. Since this year, the following countries in Central America are served by ''Telesecundaria'':
{| class="wikitable" |- – bgcolor="#ececec" | '''Country''' || '''Schools''' || '''Teachers''' || '''Students''' || '''Groups''' |- | Telesecundaria Costa Rica || 50 || 117 || 2500 || 120 |- | Telesecundaria El Salvador || 96 || 166|| 5057 || 288 |- | Telesecundaria Guatemala || 384 || 786 || 20564 || 939 |- | Telesecundaria Honduras || 37 || 125 || 3118 || 111 |- | Telesecundaria Panama || 5 || 24 || 367 || 18 |}
:''Source [https://web.archive.org/web/20060215152821/http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb2/sep/sep_5033_edusat Ministry of Public Education] of Mexico''
===United States=== There are currently pilot programs available in the states of California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Florida.
==See also== * Education in Mexico
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite journal |last=Durán |first=Jorge |date=June 2001 |title=The Mexican Telesecundaria: Diversification, internationalization, change, and update |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680510123318 |journal=Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=169–177 |doi=10.1080/02680510123318 |issn=0268-0513|url-access=subscription }} * {{Cite journal |last=Flores |first=Raúl Calixto |last2=Albarrán |first2=Angélica María Rebollar |date=2008-01-10 |title=La Telesecundaria, ante la sociedad del conocimiento |url=https://rieoei.org/RIE/article/view/2187 |journal=Revista Iberoamericana de Educación |language=es |volume=44 |issue=7 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.35362/rie4472187 |issn=1681-5653|doi-access=free }} * {{Cite journal |last=Navarrete-Cazales |first=Zaira |last2=López Hernández |first2=Paola Andrea |date=2022-10-01 |title=La telesecundaria en México |url=https://perfileseducativos.unam.mx/iisue_pe/index.php/perfiles/article/view/60673 |journal=Perfiles Educativos |volume=44 |issue=178 |pages=63–78 |doi=10.22201/iisue.24486167e.2022.178.60673 |issn=2448-6167 |language=es|doi-access=free }} * {{Cite journal |last=Borghesan |first=Emilio |last2=Vasey |first2=Gabrielle |date=2024-01-01 |title=The Marginal Returns to Distance Education: Evidence from Mexico’s Telesecundarias |url=https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20220065 |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=253–285 |doi=10.1257/app.20220065 |issn=1945-7782|url-access=subscription }}
==External links== * [http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/doc/portfolio/abstract8.htm Telesecundaria] at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060215152821/http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb2/sep/sep_5033_edusat Current trends] of Edusat * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060118132521/http://edusat.ilce.edu.mx/canal_11.htm Telesecundaria] at Edusat * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060115133245/http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb2/sep/sep_Bol2990704 Telesecundaria] at the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060219081507/http://ciberhabitat.gob.mx/escuela/alumnos/telesec/ Telesecundaria] at CiberHábitat, the Information Technology for children site of the government of Mexico * {{in lang|es}} ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060311010930/http://www.ahciet.net/comun/portales/1000/10001/10024/10042/20346/docs/Iteleedu04.pdf La Red Edusat y sus contribución a la educación en México y América Latina]'' The Edusat Network and it contribution in the education in Mexico and Latin America * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060115113620/http://www.mep.go.cr/innovaciones/TelesecundariaDesc.html Telesecundaria] in Costa Rica * {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070427102521/http://www.telesecundarias.gob.mx/%23 Telesecundaria] site of the telesecundarias's teachers of Mexico
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1968 Category:1968 establishments in Mexico Category:Educational and instructional television channels Category:Distance education institutions based in Mexico Category:Culture of Central America Category:Governmental educational technology organizations Category:Education in Central America