UNESCO
October 2021
Students at Preparatoria 94 in Ecatepec return to a school renovated with the support of the Alberto Baillères Foundation
- The upper secondary school was renovated by the Alberto Baillères Foundation with an innovative, inclusive, and sustainable architectural approach designed to promote 21st century learning.
- The UNESCO Office in Mexico was present at the re-inauguration event for the campus, whose new facilities were designed with the participation of students, their families, and educators within the framework of the Social Model.
On September 7, 2017, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale damaged 4,909 schools in the State of Mexico, 32 of which suffered total damage. One of these schools was Preparatoria Oficial 94 (Upper Secondary School). Located in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc (Ecatepec, State of Mexico), the school re-opened its doors on September 29th when the Alberto Baillères Foundation handed over to the education community a renovated space, now with double its capacity to accommodate students.
The school’s new facilities were designed with an innovative, inclusive, and sustainable architectural approach intended to promote 21st century learning. They comprise accessibility elements for people with disabilities, classrooms for academic teamwork, air-conditioned laboratories, flexible furniture for collaborative study, open areas for the entire education community to meet and coexist, and spaces for creativity and services.
The UNESCO Office in Mexico participated in the inauguration of the new school facilities, designed thanks to the active participation of students, their families, and educators, within the framework of the Social Model project that the Foundation implemented in Ecatepec. This model is intended to create capacities for community transformation and the formation of safe and inclusive educational habitats in the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 4, Education.
The Social Model also makes an innovative contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 17, Partnerships for the goals, in that its functioning is based on intense collaboration between civil society, academia, government, and community (the quadruple helix).
The event was presided over by Alfredo Del Mazo, Governor of the State of Mexico; Fernando Vilchis, Mayor of Ecatepec; Alejandro Baillères Gual, President of Grupo Bal board of directors and Vice President of the Alberto Baillères Foundation; Rosa Isela Gluyas, Director General of the Alberto Baillères Foundation; and state education authorities. Rosa Wolpert, UNESCO Education Officer in Mexico, attended as the guest of honor.
For the UNESCO Office in Mexico, which has provided the Alberto Baillères Foundation with technical assistance since 2019, the Foundation’s Social Model and its implementation in a new school set a precedent in Mexico and Latin America in terms of how to work cross-sectorally on behalf of people living in contexts of economic and social vulnerability. In this sense, the Office works to systematize the experience of the Social Model so that it can be learned about, replicated, and expanded in other regions of the country and across Latin America.
“The school changed with me, and I changed with the school,” Mitzi Bernal, a fifth-semester student at Preparatoria Oficial 94 (Upper Secondary School), said on behalf of her classmates and the education community. The young woman recalled the effect of the earthquakes and the significance that participating in the reconstruction process held for her and her classmates.
Governor Del Mazo emphasized that the new facilities delivered by the Alberto Baillères Foundation can accommodate up to 1,200 students, in contrast to the 480 they served prior to the earthquakes.
“This is a completely new school that makes it possible for many more young people to learn, to come study,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Alberto Baillères Foundation, Rosa Isela Gluyas shared that the right to education, human development, community participation, a systemic approach, social innovation, and sustainability are the principles that govern the Foundation’s actions.
The President of Grupo Bal called on students to educate themselves in order to achieve their dreams and to assume their responsibilities and a leadership role to improve their environments.
Take full advantage of your new educational habitat! Study hard and with perseverance to achieve your dreams. Your future depends on your sense of responsibility, your work, and your dedication to your studies. Be good and useful men and women. Assume your share of responsibility and be leaders in your environment, and always remember that being Mexicans and working for Mexico is incredible- – Alejandro Baillères Gual
Source UNESCO