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ŠUMARSKI LIST 7-8/1968 str. 47     <-- 47 -->        PDF

FORESTRY EDUCATION IN MEXICO


The author of this report spent 2 years (1966 and 1967) in Mexico, in the Chapingo
Proiect as FAO Expert in Forest Management. He wishes to express his gratitude
to all the Mexican authorities and to many other persons for the wonderful
hospitality, for the excellent cooperation and for the considerable help that he
found in Mexico everywhere.


In the first place he wishes to address his gratitude to the Director of the National
School of Agricultura (ENA) in Chapingo, ING. GILBERTO PALACIOS DE
LA ROSA, to the Head of the Forestry Department of the same School, ING. FIACRO
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ.


The area of Mexico is 1,972 546 kms-\ There are about 40 million inhabitants,
with 15,938.670 eligible voters (7,499.415 of them women), with an annual demographic
growth of 3.5´Vo. The Federal District (Mexico City) now has about 6.5 million
persons — an increase of 1.5 million since 1960, The elevation of Mexico City (the
same as of Chapingo) is 2.240 mts. with a mean annual temperature of 15,8;) C and
a mean annual precipitation of 588 mm.


The average income for Mexican has reached 500 dollars a year, a figure that
puts Mexico on the threshold of the category »developed country« rather than a
developing country. However, the distribution of the income is very uneven.


The country´s production of goods and services increased 7.5´/» during 1966.
The country´s gold reserves totalled 589 million dollars and second line reserves
590 million dollars.


The country´s literacy programme continued to grow. Education is costing
Mexico more than 15 million pesos (1.2 million dollars) a day, almost double the
expenditure three years ago.


One of the biggest problems in Mexico is to eliminate the great differences
between the rural and urban standards of living. About 43% of the population of
Mexico is rural. There are only 75.000 people working in the Forest industry.


In accordance with the latest data of the National Forest Inventory the wooded
area in Mexico is 39,7 millions hectares.


The Forestry Education in Mexico is centralized. There is only one School in
Mexico — Chapingo — where there is a high level of forestry education. This School
is organized as semi-military establishment where the students live and where they
have all the facilities for education.


The National School of Agriculture (ENA) Chapingo, Mexico accepts the candidates
who have finished the 6 years of compulsory school »Primaria« and the 3
years of secondary school »Secundaria«. The candidates schould pass the special
examination, the examination of admission. After that they follow the courses on
the basic agricultural subjects during three years (this is called Preparatoria).


After finishing 3 years of »Preparatoria« the students can make a choice to
continue the 4-years of special education as follows: Forestry, Agricultural Economy,
Pedology, Parasitology, Irrigation, Agricultural Industry, Plant Science and
Animal Husbandry.


Like the other agricultural specialities, the education in Forestry is also 4 years.
The scholastic year corresponds more or less to the calendar year. The education
consists of theory, practice and field work. In the following table the Forestry
Study Plan is presented, which is also published as an official plan in the journal
»Mexico y sus Bosques«, Numero 15, Mayo-Junio, Mexico 1967. Clearly there are
always some changes and some progress in this Study Plan because the education
should follow the needs of the country and should be at the same time at the level
of modern research work.


During the first year of the general education (Preparatoria) there is a weeding-
out of students. Therefore the students in the last years present excellent material
in every sense. The Forestry Department produces an average of 13 professional
foresters annually for the whole of Mexico. It is obvious that between them there
is practically no competition . There are in Mexico about 350 professional foresters
but some of them do not work in forestry and most of them work in the central
institutions. Therefore one Mexican forester is responsible in the field on ave