the last wagon It is a film that is giving a lot to talk about, as it invites reflection on the teaching vocation and the difficulties that the poorest population has to achieve literacy.
According to the Netflix synopsis, which is far from the spoilersThe story is the following:
“In a rural area of Mexico, teacher Georgina is determined to make a difference in the lives of her young and resourceful students, whom she educates in a wagon school.”
The film is a fiction based on the novel by Angeles Donate and it is set at the time when the Ministry of Public Education sent teachers in authentic mobile schools that traveled through the train lines, then belonging to the Mexican State. The intention of this school was none other than to serve the children of railway workers, who constantly traveled with their families to maintain the complex train system.
The educational program for teachers on the railway lines lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s, when the Mexican government opted for the privatization of the trains.
Elementary School Article 123 “Lic. Adolfo Lopez Mateos” in Naucalpan, unique in its kind
And as surprising as it may seem, the story of the last wagon It is not far from being inspired by the current reality, since there is still a wagon that works as a school in Mexico. It’s about the Elementary School Article 123 “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos”, which is located in the municipality of Naucalpan, State of Mexico.
The wagon, which now serves as a classroom, toured northern Mexico until the 1990s, when it was abandoned after the privatization of the rail networks. However, it did not go unnoticed by the community of San Bartolo, then on the outskirts of the city and of low income, who turned the wagon into a school for the children of the community.
It should be noted that part of the population of San Bartolo also lives irregularly in wagons or houses on the banks of the tracks, where some trains that transit the industrial zone of Naucalpan still circulate.
The last wagon in real life, an example of academic excellence
Regarding the primary school, it serves more than 60 students and is run by Jaime Mayolo Contreras, who collaborates with two teachers. Although it may seem surprising, there are six grades of primary education divided into three cycles, and the carriage has a multimedia room and library. Likewise, in 2015 it was classified as the second school with the highest academic achievement in the State of Mexico, despite the fact that it is located in one of the most marginalized and problematic areas of Naucalpan.
Regarding the origin of the last wagon from real life, Contreras told Notimex in 2016:
“It is these schools that are called traveling, mainly they were founded for children of workers. These schools were owned by Petróleos de México, cement companies and railways, and the Ministry of Public Education lent the teachers to these companies so that the children could have their education”.
Regarding the difficulties that the school is facing, the director points out that in the last administration there was pressure from the government to disappear the school, despite its resounding success in the academic achievement tests.
Likewise, atmospheric conditions due to the proximity of the campus to a sewage river, as well as its overflows and potential flooding in each rainy season, have been some of the difficulties that the last wagon has had to overcome.
“The river can leave its margin, it has already happened twice, in the 23 years that I have been here. We have little light and lack of drainage; Mainly it is what harms us ”,
concludes the dorective.
Rodrigo Osegueda Philosopher by training. Contemplate the soul and imagination of Mexico.