linguistic:voice_change, quality:corruption, quality:correction, information:filtering
Education

In 2000, the Mérida municipality had 244 preschool institutions, 395 elementary, 136 Jr. high school (2 years middle school, 1 high), 97 High Schools and 16 Universities/Higher Education schools. Mérida has consistently held the status of having the best performing public schools in Mexico since 1996. The public school system is regulated by the Secretariat of Public Instruction. Attendance is required for all students in the educational system from age 6 up to age 15. Once students reach high school, they are given the option of continuing their education or not; if they chose to do so they are given two tracks in which they can graduate.

Nevertheless, education in Merida has a variety of quality throughout the city. This mainly has to do with the different social strata and where they reside. Mayan indigenous population are at the bottom of the spectrum and this can be represented in the type of education that the children are receiving. Upper class is usually located in the north, as it is less populated and has higher living costs. For the most part, private schools are located in the northern part of the city. The only students who attend these schools are those of high class and of non-Maya descent. A distressing statistic of how this affects the indigenous communities can be noted, "In Yucatan only 8.9 % of the Mayans have achieved junior high and solely the 6.6% have studied beyond that point. The 83.4% of the Mayans 15 years old and older dropped out of school before finishing junior high."

Many laws have been set in place to avoid discrimination between the Spanish speakers and the Mayan speakers as the "Law says that it is a duty of the Mexican State to guarantee – guarantee, not just try, not just attempt – that the indigenous population has access to the obligatory education, bilingual and intercultural in their methods and contents." Despite this having been set into law, there is no bilingual or cultural accepting program after elementary school. The system for indigenous education only serves about one third of the Mayan speaking population of the area. Many Maya children are forced to learn Spanish and cease using their native tongue, which may be challenging for them to do. This in turn causes many of the students to feel that learning at school is not their strong suit and may even end up dropping out early in their education.

There are several state institutions offering higher education:

Among several private institutions:

Mérida has several national research centers. Among them