Government condemned for schools crisis

BUSINESS leaders in Colon Province have condemned the present  and previous government  for  a crisis  in the   current education system “affecting future professionals.”

At a Chamber of Commerce  meeting on Wednesday September 7, businessman Rafael Arosemena denounced the state of schools in the province.

He said there are computer labs that are hopelessly outdated and that there is little internet coverage.

According to the businessman, both this government and the previous one “have to pay the political cost for the damage that they are doing to the country.”

He also blamed the authorities of the Ministry of Education and teacher unions, saying they are only interested in wages.

Arosemena, who has spent more than 30 years maintaining   schools and colleges in this province said:

“On a tour of   schools to give talks, we realize that all this investment of  first world tools that has been done are not being used, schools with language lab and  computer  labs  that have been there from three to seven years damaged because they are not used , because they do not have Internet.”.

He also blamed the authorities of the Ministry of Education (Meduca) and the teachers’ unions for only interested in salary issues

According to a report  presented  to the Chamber of Commeerce by Arosemena, the Abel Bravo College has six rooms for language instruction each with 36 computers which are not being used for lack of Internet access.

Horror stories
Among other horror stories contained in the report::

The Institute Rufo A. Garay has been waiting more than five years waiting for the installation of language labs.

In the the Republic of Paraguay school classroom language labs are not used, because the electrical system has been damaged more than six years.

Pablo Arosemena school has been waiting, since 2010 for the electrical system to be installed for   32 computers as part of a promised delivery  by the Ministry of Education (Meduca).