With the aim of monitoring and evaluating the conditions of the country’s educational centers and reinforcing the conditions that guarantee the start of the school year on March 7, the Minister of Education, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos, met on January 31 virtually – with members of the United Magisterial Action of Panama (AMUP).
AMUP, through its general coordinator, Fernando Ábrego, and other members such as Nelva Reyes and Luis Sánchez, received information about the projects carried out by the Ministry of Education (Meduca) to improve school infrastructure and the support of other ministries and local governments to immediately condition more than 627 schools in the capital city, provinces and counties.
Minister Gorday de Villalobos, together with her team, made up of directors of maintenance, infrastructure, parents, academic and administrative areas, gave answers about the strategies and called on some school directors to use the Fund’s resources of Equity and Quality of Education (FECE) and can condition schools for the benefit of students who will start face-to-face classes.
He referred to the Academic Recovery plan, which began with more than 40,000 students in 94 schools. He acknowledged that, in the midst of this program, there have been reports of isolated cases (contagions) in the North Panama region and, according to his explanation, the measures have been taken responsibly with the director of Health of that area. .
The minister said that we have to give ourselves the opportunity to start classes and, therefore, the health authorities are constantly consulted and the guidelines are presented by the executive decree, which is clear in terms of biosecurity measures and in terms of the guarantees that we must have of that protocol that must be in schools.
Due to this, the National Director of Maintenance, Marcela Herrera, explained the development of several projects for the construction of temporary classrooms and the installation of other modular ones, carried out by Meduca, with which it seeks to eliminate some ‘ranch schools’, which still remain. in indigenous regions, remote areas and difficult access.
According to Herrera, a temporary classroom quickly provides a solution to those educational centers that are under construction or that have some type of problem in their infrastructure.
A modular one is one assembled on site with a resistant material with durability of up to 20 years, for schools with infrastructure needs, either due to increased enrollment or structural damage or ‘ranch classrooms’, that do not have a prompt tender, the official explained.
According to the records of that office, the architect pointed out that as of January 19, there were 292 school projects in public events (44%); 108 for endorsement (17%); 90 running (14%); another 154 finished (23%) and 15 in amendments (2%).
