Some 954,233 students begin their return to the classroom this Monday, March 7, after two years of absence due to Covid-19.
President Laurentino Cortizo attended the official ceremony organized for the start of the school year at the La Concepción school, in Juan Díaz, where he expressed that, after 24 “difficult” months, as of this Monday, “the correct step has been taken. ”, recognizing that much remains to be done.
He indicated that as president, in his 32 months in power, the most difficult decision he made was to paralyze the country to avoid massive contagion, closures that included the paralysis of schools, however in this new beginning the president urged the entire Panamanian society to unite in favor of education, since the challenges that lie ahead for the new generations are great.
He sent a message to teachers across the country, stating: “Don’t make our students memorize so much, teach them to think, work as a team and solve problems, that is the triangle of success, teach them to read, to understand what they read”.
The president reminded the directors of schools of the existence of the Fund for Equity and Quality of Education (FECE), through which they can improve the educational offer by investing in technological tools, furniture, buying teaching materials, strengthening nutritional programs and using it to make repairs and maintain infrastructure.
He pointed out that there are 69 million 100 thousand balboas available in this fund and added that some 18 million 100 thousand balboas are about to be added as a result of the collections of the last quarter of 2021.
During his speech, he issued various messages to each part of the educational community, pointing out that the governments, the current one and those to come, must allocate the necessary resources in order to improve the quality of education by measuring the results.
He asked parents “not to delegate to the teachers what they should do as fathers and mothers.”
“Students really learn, the competition to get into a university and get a good job is tough. Ask those who don’t understand, that’s smart, investigate when you have doubts, write properly… respect so that they respect you and enjoy this stage of life,” said Cortizo.
Cortizo assured that education is not a government issue, nor only of the educational community “this is an issue of the entire Panamanian society, “let’s do what we have to do to ensure a productive school year.”
“Education is the great engine of personal development, it is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a miner can become the head of the mine; it is through an education of quality that the son of a Spanish migrant who started driving buses in Alcalde Díaz and a teacher from Santeña is today the president of Panama,” he stressed.
After his visit to the La Concepción School, Cortizo moved to the Ernesto T. Lefevre School, also located in the district of Juan Díaz.
The president was accompanied by the Minister of Education, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos, and the Governor of Panama, Carla García.
