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School Bullying: The Protocol Your School Must Follow by Law, Whether Public or Private

October 9, 2026 · 5 min read

Since December 2023, Mexico has a mandatory national protocol against school bullying for all basic education, both public and private. It’s not a recommendation: it has articles, deadlines, and specific documents that each school must have prepared.

A protocol, not a recommendation

On December 4, 2023, the Secretariat of Public Education published in the Official Gazette of the Federation the Agreement number 14/12/23, which issues the "Guidelines for the protocol to eradicate school bullying in basic education" (preschool, primary, and secondary). It’s not a set of good intentions: it contains numbered articles, deadlines, and documents that each school must produce when a case occurs.

The agreement refers to "Local Educational Authorities" without explicitly excluding private schools, and the Federal Educational Authority in Mexico City (AEFCM) published its protocol under a title that leaves no doubt: it is aimed at "public and private" schools, including basic, special, and adult education. If your school has RVOE or is incorporated into the national education system, this protocol applies to you just like it does to a public school.

The five stages required by law

The agreement organizes the obligation into five stages, each with its own articles:

1. Detection (articles 24 to 27). Observation of the behavior of victims, aggressors, and witnesses; use of risk indicator guides; periodic group dynamics to identify cases that haven’t been reported yet.

2. Notification (articles 28 to 33). Informing the school authority and staff; notifying parents or guardians of those involved; if cyberbullying occurs, report to the competent authority to remove the content. Notification can be verbal, written, digital, or as a formal complaint.

3. Intervention (articles 34 to 40). Once the case is confirmed: incident report signed by staff or administrators, commitment letter from the aggressor student, commitment letter from their parents or guardians, measures for support and protection of the victim, restorative practices, and—if there is a risk or possible crime—report to the appropriate authority.

4. Follow-up (articles 41 to 43). Documented pedagogical support in logs, verification that agreements were fulfilled, and case record (the agreement requires local authorities to establish a "state mechanism for recording cases of school bullying attended").

5. Non-repetition (articles 44 to 47). Measures tailored to the specific case, involving the victim, the aggressor, and the school community, ensuring no re-victimization.

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DETECTION → NOTIFICATION → INTERVENTION → FOLLOW-UP → NON-REPETITION

(indicators, (to parents, (incident report, (log, (measures

observation) authority, commitment letters, verify tailored,

school staff) protection, agreements) without re-

committee) referral) victimizing)

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Who handles this within the school

Article 16 of the agreement requires school leaders to convene teaching staff to form a staff committee: the group responsible for designing prevention strategies, assessing notifications, and following up on each case. The agreement also calls for annual training for staff on this topic (article 19). In a private school, this committee often relies on the existing School Technical Council—it’s not necessary to create a parallel structure, but it must be documented who is part of it and what their roles are.

What documents your school should already have

There are five documents, each with a designated owner within the school:

- Local Code of Conduct, which establishes rights and responsibilities for students, families, and staff: drafted by the staff committee.

- Incident Report, which records what happened in a confirmed case: prepared by the staff member or administrator who attended to the case.

- Commitment Letter, which involves the aggressor and their parents with specific measures: signed by the staff committee and the family.

- Follow-up Log, which documents the support provided and whether agreements were fulfilled: maintained by an assigned responsible for each case.

- Case Registry, the school’s record that the local education authority may request: kept by the administration.

If your school does not already have any of these five documents prepared in advance—not just as a template to fill out someday, but ready before a case occurs—the protocol is not fully implemented in practice, even if it exists "in the regulations".

What to do this week

- Check if your school’s staff committee is formally convened (a meeting minutes or record is enough) and not just "in the process".

- Prepare templates for incident reports, commitment letters, and logs before you need to use them, not after.

- Review whether your local protocol aligns with the five stages of Agreement 14/12/23, or if it only covers detection and sanctions (the most common mistake).

- Confirm with your Local Education Authority if there is a specific state protocol you need to align with—several entities have already published their own.

- Save evidence of staff training conducted annually, as required by article 19: even if it’s an internal session, it must be documented.

Why it benefits the school, not just the authorities

Having a prepared protocol is not only a requirement from SEP: it’s what distinguishes a school that "responded well" from one that improvised when a case became serious in front of families or authorities. Having incident reports, commitment letters, and logs already drafted—before you need them—is the difference between resolving a case in a week or spending months explaining why nothing was documented.