Disagreement over Panama education stats

While Panama’s public education system continues to trail the world, the Ministry of Education claims that 2011 was a “good year” producing statistics that have been challenged by teachers’ unions.

Mirna de Crespo, Deputy Minister of Education (meduca) said that the continuing program of curricular change in schools has contributed greatly to the decline of failing students dropping from 12.1% in 2010, to 10% in 2011. "In terms of numbers and figures we have obtained positive results." 

Yadira Pino,  of the Veraguas Educators Association (Aeve) said that the report has manipulated figures and dows not reveal the true picture. She  said enrollment in 2011 was about 238 000 students, not 229,000 thousand. For this reason "These results are not scientific and have been manipulated." Meduca must submit a new report for the 2011 school year, showing the actual results of the state of education in the country, said Pino, who reiterated the call for an overhaul of the curriculum transformation process. “Education cannot be improvised, and the country's education system is not able to implement thes new curricula … We don’t have the tools necessary to perform the transformation," said the teachers’ leader.
Education Minister Lucy Molinar has said that in 2012 Meduca should aim to ensure that "school will return to being to a sacred place" where  there will be respect for its image, including teachers and principals that lead. "We understand why our children go to school. The child goes to school to learn,” the minister said last week.