Teacher’s Day in Mexico was institutionalized back in the year 1917.
The origin of Teacher’s Day in Mexico dates back more than a century, specifically in 1917. At the beginning of that year, while the historic Constituent Congress of Mexico laid the legal foundations of a new State through the creation and promulgation of our Carta Magna, a group of legislators – headed by Benito Ramírez and Enrique Viesca – prepared and sent an initiative to Congress. That document proposed the establishment of a specific day in the year to celebrate education workers.
In that text, written by deputies who had mostly dedicated themselves to teaching, it was formally proposed that the date to pay tribute to the country’s teachers be May 15. According to historical information, a reason was given for this: the birth of the Republic, which had occurred on May 15, 1867, the day of the so-called Taking of Querétaro.
So in 1917, 50 years of that feat of arms were commemorated, that is, when the national Army defeated the Second Empire, nomination of the State governed by Maximilian of Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico, formed from the second French intervention in our country. . That day, exactly half a century ago, a new country emerged that freed itself from an emperor.
In this way, taking this argument into account, President Venustiano Carranza signed the decree and on May 15 of the following year, Teacher’s Day was celebrated for the first time in Mexico, although it should be noted that UNESCO (the Organization of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture) suggests holding this celebration every October 5.
Already established in Mexico as an official date, May 15 fit perfectly with an event that occurred 32 years later in the Vatican: on May 15, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared John Baptist de La Salle as special patron of all educators of childhood and youth and universal patron of educators, becoming Saint John Baptist de La Salle.
This French priest and pedagogue, born in 1651 and died in 1719, was a central character in the history of religious education, as he dedicated his life to training teachers for the education of children of artisans of the time, and founded the Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a secular Catholic religious institute dedicated to the education of children and young people, especially the poorest.
In this way, the date to honor Mexican teachers was consolidated. As the years went by, it became a deep-rooted tradition that has not changed its objective: to recognize the educational efforts of those classroom professionals, who have the unwavering vocation of education.