Education

As Panama enters a new stage of economic maturity, the quality of its education system has claimed a pivotal role for authorities and the private sector alike. Curricular reform has significantly improved performance across the board: coverage for initial education rose 12.1% from 2011 to 2012, while coverage for primary and pre-middle school education rose 2.1% and 0.8%, respectively. In the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14”, the quality of Panama’s education ranked 75th out of 148 countries, a notable leap from the previous year’s ranking of 112th. A new accreditation procedure is expected to address poor institutional quality among universities, while heightened public spending for the sector should not dissipate even with a change of government in 2014. Economic growth should continue to drive demand for higher education, a more diverse curriculum and increasing opportunities to use technology in the classroom.