The Permanent Multisectoral Council for the Implementation of the National Commitment to Education (Copeme) expresses its deep concern about the situations that are having a negative impact on public education in the country and calls on the authorities to seek solutions as soon as possible in order to that the school performance of the students does not continue to be affected.
For Copeme, situations such as the poor state of school infrastructures, the lack of basic services, the delay in the delivery of educational guides for primary schools, the delay in the delivery of items from the Equity and Quality Fund of Education (FECE) and late payments to teachers, among other anomalies, affect compliance with the National Commitment to Education and its goals of improving the quality of education in Panama with inclusion and equity.
In this sense, Copeme emphasizes that quality education is a fundamental human right that must prevail in favor of our students, who deserve to receive an education in adequate and safe conditions.
Copeme’s position was approved during an extraordinary meeting called to analyze the protests that are taking place in various schools in the country, mainly due to the lack of adequate facilities and their timely maintenance, and in other cases due to the lack of drinking water. and/or necessary equipment in computer rooms and laboratories, among others.
The findings found in the recent visits of Council members to basic education schools whose main affectation is the delay in the delivery of educational guides, considering that we are already halfway through the second quarter of the school year, as well as other situations, were also considered. which include lack of computers, lack of personnel such as manual workers or cooks, saturated classrooms, delays in FECE departures, among others.
Given this, Copeme calls on the Ministry of Education (Meduca) as the governing body of education, in order to direct efforts to comply with the actions established in the public proposals agreed in the National Commitment to Education, mainly in the public investment table, among which are:
• Replacement of school structures that have reached their useful life, according to current technical criteria.
• Establish clear criteria to avoid conflicts of interest to prevent donors from becoming providers.
• Establish a strategic alliance with sectors of national and international civil society that guarantees the adaptation and improvements of schools.
• Guarantee that the classrooms have the necessary equipment and furniture in accordance with the latest pedagogical trends of the moment.
• Define maintenance programs according to the state of the school infrastructure and the established technical criteria.
• Manage the necessary resources to execute the established maintenance programs.
• Implement a new budgetary programmatic structure, approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), oriented towards results-based management.
• Adequacy of the period of the fiscal year in order to guarantee timely access to resources, which facilitates timely compliance with the requirements of the comprehensive school organization.
In addition, it considers that the delivery of educational guides in all basic schools in the country is urgent and hopes that this situation will not be repeated in the next school periods, since these texts are important for good pedagogical performance.
Likewise, it is important that FECE deposits can be made, which are required to meet the needs of many schools in the country in terms of equipment, cleaning, minor repairs, among others.
Copeme also reiterates the call to the entire educational community to join forces and contribute positively so that the teaching-learning process reaches the quality to which we all aspire.
