Puebla has been very active in expanding access to upper secondary education: a decade ago created the Bachilleratos Generales, which cater half of the student population, and today still continues to increase coverage by introducing an innovative type of digital schools in rural areas. Upper secondary education is now mandatory nationwide, with universal coverage to be achieved by 2021-22, but the road to improvement is challenging. Weak system-wide leadership and a multiplicity of providers have resulted in inefficiencies and quality concerns. Dropout in basic education remains a bottleneck for raising enrolment in upper secondary education and weak support and guidance mechanisms as well as high opportunity costs to stay or return to education fuel noncompletion.

To enhance the access and raise the quality of upper secondary education, this chapter looks into policies to:

• Improve governance mechanisms to ensure that a coherent and high-quality upper secondary education is accessible to all.
• Raise the quality of upper secondary education, focusing on teachers and Bachilleratos Generales, and increase the relevance of vocational programmes.
• Promote access to and ensure completion of upper secondary education, particularly among disadvantaged students.