Decree 53-2025
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 53-2025
- Published: October 11, 2025
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 36,964
- Category: Administrative
Summary
This decree creates six types of specialized schools (bilingual, arts, agricultural, sports, and special education) under state supervision to improve technical and professional education. Teachers in these schools will work full-time exclusively, be selected through competitive exams, and professionals from other disciplines may teach if they have certified pedagogical training. The State will allocate triple the budget of regular secondary schools to these institutions.
Considerations
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic in its Article 59 establishes that: "The human person is the supreme end of society and of the State, and all have the obligation to respect and protect it…".
Whereas Article 151 of the Constitution of the Republic establishes that: "Education is an essential function of the State for the preservation, promotion and dissemination of culture, which shall project its benefits to society without discrimination of any kind. National education shall be secular and shall be founded on the essential principles of democracy, shall inculcate and foster in students profound feelings of Honduran identity and shall be directly linked to the process of economic and social development of the country".
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic in its Article 153 provides that: "The State has the obligation to develop basic education for the people, creating for this purpose the necessary administrative and technical bodies that are directly dependent on the Secretariat of State in the Ministry of Education".
Whereas the right to education is a Human Right. Teacher training is an exclusive function and responsibility of the State. It is primarily the right and duty of parents, mothers or legal representatives to educate and choose the type of education that their children or wards shall receive. The State has the duty to guarantee, respect and protect the exercise of this right and the community has the duty to contribute to the development, management and improvement of education.
Whereas Decree No. 262-2011 of January 19, 2011, published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta" dated February 22, 2012, containing the Fundamental Law of Education in its Article 5 establishes that "Education is an inescapable duty and essential function of the State and it is its responsibility to organize and direct the National Education System, as well as to promote and disseminate through various means research, science, technology, art, culture, sports and to promote values that strengthen national identity".
Whereas within the framework of the Plan 365 for the Refoundation of Education, in one of its most important projects, it mandates the creation of secondary schools pertinent to the needs of the country in the Twenty-First Century.
Whereas in accordance with Article 205, Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is the power of the National Congress: To create, decree, interpret, reform and repeal Laws.
Articles
THERE ARE CREATED SPECIALIZED EDUCATIONAL CENTERS denominated as follows:
- 1)
Bilingual Teacher Training Schools;
- 2)
Arts Schools;
- 3)
Agricultural Schools;
- 4)
Sports Schools;
- 5)
Special Education Schools; and,
- 6)
Other schools that have as their purpose the strengthening of education. These shall operate by means of an Agreement and special regulation, which shall be issued by the Secretariat of State in the Office of Education (SEDUC).
The process of recruitment, selection, and appointment of personnel for the Specialized Schools must be carried out through specific competitive examination in accordance with what is established in the Statute of the Honduran Teaching Profession; given the specificity of the competitive examinations, the evaluating panels must be composed of professionals or experts in the corresponding areas. The members of the panels must be nominated one by each specialized school in the area corresponding to the specific competitive examination; these must prepare the preference lists which must be published in an official manner.
Professionals with a Title of Engineer, Licentiate, Physician, or of other disciplines different from teaching, who provide services in the specialized schools and technical institutes in a teaching function, must enjoy job stability and the corresponding value of the "academic qualification" established in Article 50 of the Statute of the Honduran Teaching Profession, provided that they accredit training in pedagogy and didactics with a specialty or master's degree, granted by the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University (UPNFM). It is strictly prohibited that these professionals occupy hours or positions in careers offered by the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University (UPNFM).
For purposes of strengthening research and technical cooperation, the Secretariat of State in the Office of Education (SEDUC) may establish agreements with the different Secretariats of State, so that professionals with specialties in areas of interest may provide technical advice to teachers and students.
The Study Plan and Curricular Program of the Specialized Educational Centers must be developed in an eight (8) hour school day, the teachers who work in these shall have appointments in exclusive dedication shift, as established in the Statute of the Honduran Teaching Profession, in its Article 54 as reformed, pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 256-2000 of December 22, 2000, published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta" on February 16, 2001.
It is strictly prohibited that the structures created for the operation of the specialized schools be canceled, transferred, or used to make appointments in other educational centers different from where it was created.
Teachers who, upon the entry into force of this Decree, work in full-time shift and one of their positions is located in a Specialized Educational Center, may work in such center provided they comply with the regulations established in the preceding Article; otherwise they shall have a period of two (2) calendar years to be transferred to another educational center, being placed in priority on the list of transfer requests, following transfer requests for safety reasons. The technical assistants of the Secretariat of State in the Office of Education (SEDUC) may be assigned permanently to the Specialized Educational Centers, provided that the academic titles and professional experience are in accordance with the academic requirements; their function may be in teaching management, teaching, or research.
The budget for the operation of the Specialized Educational Centers shall be allocated by the Secretariat of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN), through the Secretariat of State in the Office of Education (SEDUC), in accordance with the General Provisions of the General Budget of Income and Expenditure of the Republic; considering the academic offerings, additionally the disbursements corresponding to the Free Tuition Program shall be triple what is established for payment to secondary education centers.
Repeal Legislative Decree No. 63-2019 of July 10, 2019, published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta" on June 5, 2021, Edition 35,619.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta". Done in the city of Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the Seventh day of the month of August of Two Thousand Twenty-five. LUIS ROLANDO REDONDO GUIFARRO PRESIDENT LUZ ANGÉLICA SMITH MEJÍA SECRETARY JOSUÉ FABRICIO CARBAJAL SANDOVAL SECRETARY To the Executive Branch Therefore: Let It Be Executed. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., August 14, 2025. IRIS XIOMARA CASTRO SARMIENTO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION
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