MEDIA WATCH: Back to school and the burden of ignorance

hoyporhoy La Prensa, Feb 29

ANOTHER  SCHOOL YEAR with renewed hope that young people will receive a quality education. 

Unfortunately, either by our bureaucracy, lack of planning or for any other reason, at least 44 schools will be closed today while the rest will fight for improvement. The State and parents make a great effort to make it better than this year: innovation, resources, teacher training and infrastructure and finally to erase ignorance, the great problem that is facing our older students, even if they go to school.

The proof of this is that Panama still lags behind in knowledge tests.  For decades we have hoped that education will bring  trends; start the school year without stumbling into  schools in poor condition, without furniture, without teachers.

We don’t even know for sure how many failures are in the system and, above that  failure is rewarded with scholarships. Panamanian education marches with steps so slow  as if we were in the last century. And it’s a shame for a country with such high potential, but which cannot grow with  the heavy burden of ignorance.