Education
From The Report: Panama 2015
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Despite notable achievements in the past decade, including reaching universal coverage at the primary level, by international standards the quality of Panama’s education system continues to lag significantly. Panama ranked 83rd out of a total of 144 countries for the quality of its education system in the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15”, down eight places from 75th in the previous year’s report (out of 148 countries) and behind regional neighbours Costa Rica (21st) and El Salvador (63rd). Curricular reform introduced in 2010 has increased pertinence and retention rates, while a strengthening of the accreditation process for universities has also brought about improvements at the tertiary level. However, a disconnect between the educational offering and labour market needs remains a concern. A rising budget and push to expand the post-secondary offer are indicative of the current government’s commitment to improve education outcomes, a move which has become key to ensuring sustainable economic growth.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Learning curve: Progress is being made towards sustainable growth via a rising budget and a push to raise post-secondary offerings
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Despite notable achievements in the past decade, including reaching universal coverage at primary level, Panama’s education sector continues to face a number of challenges. Curricular reform introduced in 2010 has increased pertinence and retention rates. At the tertiary level, the strengthening of the accreditation process for universities has also brought about improvements. However, by international standards, quality continues to lag behind. In the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) “Global…

Analysis

In demand: Efforts to expand technical and vocational training increase as the skills shortage continues
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A shortage of skilled workers remains one of the most commonly voiced concerns of business professionals in Panama. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Competitiveness Report 2014-15” lists an inadequately educated workforce as the second-most problematic factor in doing business in the country. With the skills shortage having an impact on the labour market, authorities are looking at ways to align education with labour market demands. Shortage Though the trend affects a number of Latin American…