Cuban children and adolescents currently make up the majority of the approximately 120 migrant students who started the new school year in an educational program in Tapachula, a Mexican city that has become a temporary —and in some cases, permanent— settlement point for many families from the island.
The information was published this Monday by Diario del Sur, which detailed that the project Educación Sin Fronteras commenced the school year with students from Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti, aged between three and 17 years.
Esther Berenice, in charge of the primary level, explained to the media that most of the enrollment currently consists of Cuban students, although the program continues to receive children from other countries.
The approximately 120 students are divided among preschool, elementary, and middle school, and they attend classes at the Community Development Center (CEDECO) Estación Ferroviaria, located in the old train station of Tapachula.
The program operates through a multigrade system, due to the differences in age, academic level, and educational background of the minors.
The content follows the model of the New Mexican School, but teachers must adapt it to a population that is constantly changing due to the nature of migration movements.
The predominant presence of Cubans is not appearing for the first time in reports about these classrooms.
In May, Diario del Sur reported that Cubans and Haitians made up the majority of students in the Migrant Education Program and attributed this phenomenon to families choosing to stay in Tapachula due to changes in U.S. immigration policies.
The report from this Monday introduces a nuance regarding that situation: now the teacher specifically identifies Cubans as the predominant nationality among the students.
One of the challenges within classrooms is precisely the coexistence of children coming from different educational systems and speaking different languages.
The most evident case is that of Haitian students who arrive speaking Creole and still do not master Spanish.
Teachers turn to translators and technological tools to communicate with them, and they even receive assistance from students who are fluent in both languages and serve as interpreters for their peers.
The situation also requires modifications to school activities because some children arrive with different academic levels or join the class when the course is already underway.
According to Diario del Sur, Education Without Borders has assisted since 2021 over 1,150 minors from more than 15 nationalities.
On July 10th, 25 students completed an educational phase as part of a multicultural promotion called "Generation of Peace."
That expense was also reported earlier by the Chiapas newspaper, which highlighted the interaction among students of different nationalities within the program.
The project is currently accepting applications for the 2026-2027 cycle. In August, the same source reported that girls, boys, and adolescents in situations of mobility could enroll, even if the families did not have all the academic documentation for the minors.
The presence of Cuban children in the classrooms occurs amidst a much broader migratory phenomenon in Tapachula.
Local authorities have warned in 2026 about the significant increase in citizens from the island who remain in that border city, some waiting to resolve immigration procedures and others after being deported from the United States.
Estimates regarding how many Cubans remain in Tapachula, however, vary considerably depending on the source and the time.
In May, Mayor Yamil Melgar Bravo spoke of more than 10,000 Cubans in the city, while organizations cited in a subsequent report by Human Rights Watch estimated around 800 Cuban deportees stranded specifically in Tapachula.
The report from Human Rights Watch also documented that Cubans were the largest group among third-country citizens deported by the United States to Mexico between January 2025 and March 2026, with 4,353 island citizens sent to the country during that period.
The extension of stay has led many to seek ways to integrate into the daily life of Tapachula. A Cuban migrant has taken on the role of a children's basketball coach in the city, while other compatriots have resorted to informal work to support themselves as they attempt to regularize their situation.
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