Inauguration of the "Cuauhtémoc" Pilot Technical High School: The Precursor to CECyT 7

On November 8, 1964, at 10:00 a.m., President Adolfo López Mateos inaugurated the facilities of the "Cuauhtémoc" Pilot Technical High School, located in the Nonoalco Tlatelolco Housing Complex. This complex was part of an urban development project designed by architect Mario Pani, which included 102 residential buildings, 600 commercial spaces, 19 schools, sports centers, medical clinics, and more. The school was strategically surrounded by three major thoroughfares—Insurgentes Norte, Eje Central (then known as Santa María la Redonda until 1978), and Paseo de la Reforma—and was framed by the Tlatelolco archaeological site, the Santiago Apóstol Temple, and the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.

The Pilot Technical High School began operations a year earlier within the facilities of the "Luis Enrique Erro" Technical Commercial School while awaiting the construction of its purpose-built facility. Unlike the established Polytechnic Vocational Schools, each of which specialized in a single knowledge area, the Pilot High School offered programs in all three major fields: engineering and physical-mathematical sciences, medical-biological sciences, and social-administrative sciences.

The photographs accompanying this account document the construction work undertaken by the Banco Nacional Hipotecario Urbano y de Obras Públicas, S.A., and the Polytechnic Institute’s Workshops, Laboratories, and Equipment Trust. These efforts transformed the building into an iconic symbol of its era.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by notable figures such as José Antonio Padilla Segura, Director General of the IPN; Jaime Torres Bodet, Secretary of Education; and Víctor Bravo Ahuja, Undersecretary of Technical and Higher Education, alongside the President of the Republic.

Este edificio fue abandonado en 1968 y pasó a depender en 1970 del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). El estudiantado de la Preparatoria Técni ca Piloto se trasladó temporalmente al edificio 8 de la Unidad Profesional Zacatenco. En 1969 la Preparatoria modificó su nombre a Vocacional 7 “Cuauhtémoc”, mudándose a las insta laciones de Av. Ermita Iztapalapa, que hasta la fecha habita. En 1971 cambió su nominación a Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos (CECyT) “Cuauhtémoc”.

The digital reproductions of these images are safeguarded by the Historical Archive of the IPN, while the originals belong to the Enrique Maya Saavedra Collection of the Institute for University and Education Research at UNAM. For inquiries, contact the Office of the Presidency of the Dean of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional at (5729 6000, extensions 63054 and 63057) or email consultaah@ipn.mx.