10,000 Panama teachers to get sex-ed training

Panama ranks fourth in Latin America for unwanted pregnancies and in an attempt to address the problem the Ministry of Education (Meduca) is training some 10,000 teachers in the use of Education Guides on Sexuality and Affectivity, with the aim of implementing preventive programs in schools.

The courses began on February 7, with the preparation of 4,000 teachers 6,000 followed by another 6,000  (from February 14 to 18)

The training is carried out virtually, through the Esther platform and with the collaboration of specialists from the health area and the Meduca psychosocial team; and has the endorsement of the National Directorate of Training and Professional Improvement.

These didactic guides are aimed at: parents, for guidance and training in education on sexuality and effectivity of their children; general basic education students of primary school (1st-6th), middle school (7th-9th) and middle school (10th-12th), and one of the guides is aimed at pregnant adolescents, adolescent mothers, and their fathers, mothers or guardians.

The educational authorities plan to distribute 43,800 guidance and training guides in sexuality and affectivity education among the educational community When the school year begins, on March 7, the use of this teaching material is expected.

The long haul
The history of the guides dates back to September 2016, when an inter-institutional commission led by Meduca and made up of seven other entities was formed, which worked on the selection of information on reproductive and sexual health, to create a “pedagogical instrument” to attend to the particularities of each school-age group.

After more than a year of work, the commission delivered the data to the consultant in 2018, in order to prepare the final document.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) presented in October 2021 the study Socioeconomic consequences of teenage pregnancy in Panama, where it showed that teenage pregnancies registered in 2019 represented an economic cost for the country of $525 million .