Pedro de Gante

Pedro de Gante (born 1486?, Ghent, Flanders [now in Belgium]—died 1572, Mexico City) was a Franciscan monk who founded the first school in New Spain (Mexico) and laid the foundations for future Indian education in the Spanish colonies.

In 1523 Gante (Spanish for “Ghent”), then confessor to the emperor Charles V, went to New Spain, where he established a village school for Indian children in Texcoco. Because he believed that education and religion should be natural parts of everyday life, Gante studied the native Indian language and taught reading, catechism, and native arts in both Spanish and the local dialect. Three years later he founded a similar school in Mexico City. There, teaching in both languages, he welcomed children and adults from all economic and social levels. His Doctrina cristiana en lengua mexicana (“Christian Doctrine in the Mexican Language”) was published in Antwerp in 1528 and in Mexico in 1553.