Mexican Parents Push Back as School Year Cut Short for World Cup
Mexico's education ministry says the 2025-26 school year will end nearly a month early in June to ease security and transport pressure when the country hosts the FIFA World Cup opener. Parents argue the cut shortens learning time and leaves working families scrambling for childcare.
The opening match of the 2026 World Cup, hosted jointly by Mexico, the United States and Canada, will be played on 11 June at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca. The education ministry says it will close schools in the capital five weeks early, with the same calendar applying to the other host cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Parents and teaching unions told the BBC the move erases roughly 25 working days from the academic calendar and forces low-income families in particular into extra childcare costs. Some education experts noted that learning losses from the pandemic have still not been fully recovered.
The ministry argues the traffic, security and public-transport demands of the football schedule make it impossible to keep schools open, and says the missed days will be made up at the start of next September. Opposition parties are pressing for the decision to be reversed.
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