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Programas de Fomento A La Lectura Como Política de Bienestar Estudiantil - Caso UAEM - Es.en
Programas de Fomento A La Lectura Como Política de Bienestar Estudiantil - Caso UAEM - Es.en
com
Public
spacesISSN:1665-
8140
magazine.espacios.publicos@gmail.com Autonomous
University of the State of Mexico Mexico
Available in:
RSUMMARY
This article analyzes whether reading promotion programs meet the particularities to be considered student
welfare policies. At the beginning, what is a public policy and its characteristics are defined.The policies
related to the promotion of reading at the federal and institutional levels are also presented, as well as the
actions that have been taken within the uaem. It is mainly concluded that the actions taken suggest that the
promotion of reading should be considered as a welfare policy.be a student
PKEY WORDS:student welfare policy, reading program, reading promotion, uaem.
ABSTRACT
This article analyzes whether the programs to promote reading among BA students, fulfill the peculiaritiesto
be considered policies of student welfare. The definition of a public policy as well as its characteristics are
presented. Policies related to the promotion of reading at the federal and institutional levels are presented as
well. The actions that have been taken inside the uaem are shown. It concludes with the idea that the actions
taken suggest that the promotion of reading should be considered as a policy of student welfare. KEY
WORDS:student welfare policy, reading program, reading encouragement, uaem.
154
YoINTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technologies
(ict) have favored”. The traditional assigns a
roleto the state, while the new concept creates
People often talk about the place that Mexico opportunities to improve public services.public,
occupies in terms of the number of books that are allows better access to information and
read, as well as the actions that have been taken to increases citizen participation. Laswell (in
make it a country of readers. However, these Nateras, 2006: 255) states that policies have "a
surveys present a sample of the entire Mexican multidisciplinary orientation, since by their
population, but, on the other hand, here the specific nature they involve political, economic,
results of a Higher Education Institution are administrative, and cultural aspects, among
observed in order to know its position with respect others."
to thistheme. It is necessary to analyze what is a MarthaNateras (2006: 255) mentions that
policyand to know if the reading promotion “the definition of policy can be obtained
programs meet the requirements to be within the descriptive and theoretical
considered a policy, specifically, a policy approaches; In the descriptive notion,
ofstudent welfare. different ways of conceiving them can be
Regarding the subject, which isIn this found and among these are the proposals for
article, the definition, characteristics and specific action, within which there are actions
elements of a public policy are presented to later such as the reforestation of national parks or
focus on student welfare policies; Likewise, such as adult literacy policies; This is where
special mention is made of the policies for the policy to promote reading can be
promoting reading at the Autonomous included”. He adds that from the theoretical
University of the State of Mexico (uaem), as aspect it is appreciated that policies are
e-ISSN in process, year 21, no. 51, January-April
well as the group for the Promotion of Reading elaborated from government-citizen
and its actionsundertaken. interaction and that when studying them,
reference must be made to three fundamental
elements that constitute them, which are:
PPUBLIC POLICIES AND WELFARE
POLICIESSTUDENT • Public objectives of the State
• Programs designed to meet those goals
• Its impact on society
Public policies "correspond to specific solutions
on how to manage public affairs" (Lahera, 2002: For Lahera (2002: 4), a quality public policy
9). A policy or policy "refers to any social must include:
decision, where the subject of the decision can be
an individual, an organization or the State" • Orientations or contents
(Bazúa and Valenti, 1993 cited by Nateras, 2006: • Instruments or mechanisms
254). According to Lahera (2002: 4), there are • Institutional definitions or modifications
two concepts, "the traditional one and the one that • Forecast of yourresults
advances in
Alma Leticia Ferado Garcia
Francisco Jose Arguello Zepeda
156
and that it is not enough, as pointed outCantón the strategies and lines of action to achieve the
(2009), to stay at the level of readers but rather objectives and Chapter VII establishes the
to train autonomous readers committed to the indicators.The pnd indicates that this Mexico
meanings of what they read and that this may with Quality Education is sought "to guarantee
be able to contribute to explaining their human an integral development of all Mexicans and
condition. In various speeches it is mentioned thus have a prepared human capital, which is a
that there is a low level of reading in Mexico. source of innovation and leads all students to
Aristegui (2014, Notimex) concludes a note their greatest human potential" (segob , 2013).
on the number of books that we Mexicans We believe that reading is an important part of
read, expressing that "it is essential to have this comprehensive development and that the
policies in favor of reading that benefit the role of teachers is essential to achieve it. It is
entire population and combine the efforts of also indicated that the focus of the pnd is "to
different actors from both the State and of promote policies that close the gap between
civil society”. Below are presented from the what is taught in schools and the skills that
general to the particular the programs, today's world demands to develop a
strategies or actions that are being lifelong learning” (segob, 2013). Within Chapter
implemented at different levels in our country III,the pnd points out that:
and specifically
cally in the uaem, aroundto the topic. (...) a Mexico with Quality Education
Let's talk first about the National proposesimplement State policies that guarantee
Development Plan (pnd) 2013-2018.In this the right to quality education for all, strengthen
document of the Ministry of the Interior the articulation between educational levels and
(segob) published in the Official Gazette of link them with scientific work, technological
e-ISSN in process, year 21, no. 51, January-April
the Federation on May 20, 2013, five national development and the productive sector, in order
goals and three cross-cutting strategies were to generate quality human capital that triggers
established as a plan of the Government of national innovation (segob, 2013).
the Republic to achieve its general objective,
which is: However, it clarifies that because there are
stilldeficiencies in the application of equity and
(...) take Mexico to its maximum potential in a quality policies "it is urgent to reduce the gaps in
broad sense. In addition to economic growthor access to education, culture and knowledge (...)"
income, factors such as developmenthuman (segob, 2013). We are then at that point of
rights, substantive equality between women and recognition before the analysis in which we must
men, the protection of natural resources, health, act and create quality conditions for student
education, political participation and security, development. This document also clarifies that
are an integral part of the vision to achieve said "culture contributes to the formation of a citizenry
potential (segob, 2013). capable of fully developing its intellectual
potential" because "a culturally developed society
As can be seen, the third of these goalsnationals is will have a greater capacity to understand its
a Mexico with Quality Education. Each of the environment and will be better
goals describes the challenges for each sector
andestablishes an action plan with its
respective objectives to solve them.Chapter VI
details
Alma Leticia Ferado Garcia
Francisco Jose Arguello Zepeda
The pnd is contemplating in this fourth line of • Strategy 5.1 Promote artistic and
158
first line of action establishes “promote circlesof the university community and society, with
face-to-face and virtual reading and literary content aimed at promoting citizenshipuniversal”
appreciation for paid and unpaid working women” (Barrera, 2017: 109). The policies reflected in this
(Sep, 2013: 65). This article will not focus on the document, in terms of increasing recreational
realization of a gender study, but it is necessary to reading rates, are as follows (Barrera, 2017):
know the actions carried out by the authorities
relating the issue of reading and the transversal • The Secretariat of Cultural Diffusion will
lines that it has established inthe pnd. establisha committee that defines a
In the same sense, the Promotion Lawfor collection of recreational readings to
Reading and Books (2008), aims to be equitable make it available to the university
at a social and gender level, and at the same community in the libraries ofeducational
time guarantee freedom in book publications. all spaces.
of itrepresents a success, but there are still • The General Editorial Council of the
structural obstacles that prevent many social university will define a collection of 20 books
sectors from having access to books (printed orientedto the dissemination and
or electronic). promotion of citizenshipuniversal.
In this way, it can be seen that the pse follows • The Secretaryof Cultural Diffusion will
up on the line of action established in the pnd evaluate and redefine the policies of
regarding the promotion of reading. From these promotion of thereading.
documents emanate the National Reading
Program, as well as the State Reading Programs; It is essential to analyze each of these policies to
however, these programs will not be presented at see their relevance, feasibilityand impact among
this time, instead attention will be directed to
e-ISSN in process, year 21, no. 51, January-April
Prize for Children's Literature, which are in Cantón (2009) in History of reading
open access in the institutional repository. inMexico, towards the formation of autonomous
readers(1st part) describes the different functions
All this constitutes a challenge that, in order to that it hasfulfilled the reading historically,
achieve it, it is necessary to spread more about the beginningwith the colonial era whereeducation
cultural and editorial work that is carried out was mainly oriented towards evangelization,
within the uaem, it is worth mentioning that highlighting the humanitarian work of the
currently the official rectory magazine already missionaries who implemented various
haswith the ISSN code, which is aincentive reading strategies. Following this author in
for both students and academics to publish in the same work (2nd part), he exposes the
that space. factors that favored the development of
It is worth mentioning that, within this Higher reading during the 19th century and the
Education Institution, for several yearsFor years, Porfiriato that, despite the profusion of
actions have been carried out to promote written materials (books, newspapers) and the
reading seeking the well-being of its population increase in schools , the vast majority of the
160
reference point. It is recognized that teachersthey In another more recent note (Aristegui,2014),
play a fundamental role in educational outreach it is stated that conaculta pointed out that in
and book promotion. There is a wide variety of the National Reading Survey (enl) the
titles, themes and levels. In this period, libraries number of books read per year is 2.94, which
are created and there is no doubt about the did not advance much from the 2006 Survey
official effort to promote reading (Cantón, in which 2.6 books were read annually.
2009). However, in Chapter 1 of said Survey
Later, in the post-war period, there were (conaculta, 2006: 36), “it is shown that the
external factors (influence of annual average is 2.9 books, which would
emigrantsSpanish) and internal (development of confirm that there has been practically no
the publishing industry) that promoted reading variation”. In 2015 (concaulta, 2015: 104,
in the Mexican population (Torres, 1988). In the 169) “it is reported that the average number
later period,1960-1985, there were of books read annually both out of necessity
achievements, with the appearance of thesep and pleasure is 5.3. Of this figure, 3.5
notebooks from the 1970s that contributed to corresponds to the average number of books
popularize reading, but there were also setbacks read per year for pleasure, plus 1.8 of the
in the 1980s given that in that decade public average number of books read per year due to
spending on education decreased in the context necessity”. These figures show an increase
of the economic crisis of 1982 (Greaves, 1988). compared to the previous survey and it can be
Today there is a new impetus for promoting seen that reading for pleasure is more
reading and books, granted by the National common than reading out of necessity.
Council for Culture and the Arts (conaculta) Since the enl is applied by selectingcarefully
whichit became the Ministry of Culture. the sample at the national level that covers all
sectors of the population, the average number
of books read per year within an
e-ISSN in process, year 21, no. 51, January-April
162
reading, among other help and guidance topicsto As mentioned at the beginning of this
develop that skill. Subsequently,In 2013, the article,Méndez (2000 in Nateras, 2006: 256)
day began to publish an informative poster establishes“that in order to recognize a public
and from number 5 it changed to being a policy it is necessary to recognize the results of
bulletin. Currently, the day publishes monthly the actions of the State”, and after presenting the
and electronically the newsletter Enjambre development of thistopic, we can say that in
Lector, which also has interesting sections this regardyes, a public policy has been
such as “Improving dysorthography”, “Top established because it is appreciated that the
5”, “Recommendation of the month”, among State, be it the Federal Government, State or
others. particularly the uaem, have recognized the
The reading promotion group had the problem, have made a diagnosis to define
initiative to start a project in which surveys objectives and strategies and have carried out
would be applied to all the students of action programs to solve them.
theUniversity to learn more about their interests The establishmentand compliance with a
and reading habits in order to be able, with this reading promotion policy, will definitively
information, to take actions that will contribute to contribute to the student's well-being in a
the fulfillment of institutional goals. These surveys personal and professional way; and not only
yielded useful information on the type of materials of them, but of all related sectors.
that are read most frequently, as well as on The Government must formulate the correct
prevailing reading habits, among other aspects. policies to propitiate and promote the conditions
Thanks to this evaluation, it is possible to know thatsuccessfully carry out reading programs;
the current reading situation at the university, the however, all civil society must be committed
interests and needs in general and also in particular from its role as student, parent or teacher. This
by the different academic organizationsbecause joint effort will result in individual and social
together with global policies, strategies are growth.
e-ISSN in process, year 21, no. 51, January-April
establishedparticular promotion of reading that Along with the strategiesof reading promotion,
contribute to improving reading rates and, publishers also constitute an important link. They
therefore, the well-being of students in the must promote quality material that meets various
different areas of professional training. interests, is available, and is affordable.
It is necessary to continue promoting
activities such as book fairs, presentationsof
books, mobile libraries, among others, in order
CONCLUSIONS thatstudents are in contact with the texts, since
in this way there are more possibilities of
generating readers and becoming infected with
Although it is true that historically there has the taste forreading.
been progress in promoting reading and the The policies implemented within the uaem
gradual decrease in illiteracy in Mexico, there to increase the index of books readfor pleasure
are still regional and social inequalities in this annually were satisfactory and it was possible to
area. increase the average, complying with this
Alma Leticia Ferado Garcia
Francisco Jose Arguello Zepeda
164
8. DIA (DIRECTORATE OF ACADEMIC 15. Olvera Garcia, Jorge (2013),Institutional
INFRASTRUCTURE)(2010), Reading Development Master Plan 2013-2017,
promotion area, available Toluca,Mexico, wow.
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DIA/Infraestructura.htm, consulted on Report, Administration 2013-2017, Dr.
3January 2014. Jorge Olvera García, Rector, Toluca,
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INFRASTRUCTURE)(2015), Reader Swarm. uaemex.mx/4informe1317/pdf/Cuarto_
Bulletin of the Directorate of Academic Informe_2016.pdf, accessed March
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Readers”.Pediatric Continuing Education National Development Plan 2013-
Program, available at https://scp.com. 2018.Official Gazette of the Federation
co/precop-old/precop_files/modulo_10_ of May 20, 2013, available
vin_4/2_jtw.pdf, accessed June 6, 2015. athttp://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?
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