The health crisis sparked by COVID-19 has evidenced many issues, especially that Mexico lacks experts in the healthcare sector . The government hired an army of 17,000 healthcare workers to face the pandemic; however, none of them has the required training and although their work is praised, it would be desirable to have more experts .
This shows that the country has deficiently planned the educational plan, which translated into the lack of linkage between universities and work offerings . Since the government took control of education , which was previously controlled by the church, there hasn’t been a policy that promotes the careers the country needs, instead, it has given young students the freedom to choose their career even when it will not benefit society or help to find solutions to problems affecting the nation.
Although previous administrations tried to promote technical careers and created universities such as the IPN and the Chapingo University, humanities are still the most popular field among students ; therefore, careers such as law, sociology, and communication are still in high demand despite the low job offer.
Recommended: Mexico doesn't have enough doctors and nurses to face the COVID-19 pandemic
This is the case in the health sector. Many students study general medicine but do not become experts in a specific field and opt for areas that guarantee economic gains and ignore others such as epidemiology and pathology , which are focused on research and not on the interaction with patients.
In order to ease the lack of experts, the education system must create new planning that considers the needs of the country and promote medicine among students. This would also help to contrast the disproportional rate of students who went into careers that will not guarantee a successful professional development.
An example of this is Asian countries, where there are many students in the science and technology areas, mainly because these governments promoted these careers.
Recommended: Cuba sends doctors to help Mexico fight COVID-19
gm