Panama

The school year runs from April to December, and Spanish is the language of instruction. The duration of compulsory education is 11 years, including preschool education from four to five years of age. Panama has a high rate of literacy, exceeding 93 percent of the total population in the year 2000, though a high percentage of the indigenous people (four times as much as the national average) were illiterate in the 1980s. The educational budget is normally larger than the one allotted to other ministries.

After students successfully complete all six grades of primary school, they register for secondary school. The grading system is one to five and three is passing. If students do not pass a course, they must repeat it the next year. If they fail four or more courses within the same year or if they fail the same course twice consecutively, they cannot be promoted to the next level and are transferred to another school or to another class section within the same school.

Retention rates have been one of the biggest challenges facing the Panamanian educational system. Many students drop out when, after making progress in the primary grades and the first cycle of secondary education, they are forced to pay tuition to register for higher studies.

As stipulated in the 1972 Constitution, the government (and in practice, the Ministry of Education) regulates the school curriculum. In primary education students are taught science and mathematics, language and social studies as well as some elements of art and technology. The Ministry is in charge of writing the course syllabi and the textbooks.

The Panamanian government has established special education courses for handicapped children. The most well known special education center is the Instituto Panameño de Habilitación especial. This institution is vocational in nature and offers courses that help the handicapped pursue useful activities and acquire job related skills. There they learn activities that include, but are no limited to, sewing, cabinet making, binding, horticulture, and office work.