Panamanian Teachers' Union Awaits Participation in Education Reform

Teachers' union leader Humberto Montero stated that they were not involved in the new curriculum design to be implemented in 2026. He assured that educational unions are willing to contribute to the discussion on the educational reform announced by President José Raúl Mulino on January 2 during his State of the Nation address. "The unions have been in several dialogues and debates, and we are prepared for the call that President Mulino will make for this change to the Organic Education Law," Montero expressed. He mentioned that under the previous administration, the law was being violated because the curriculum must be reviewed every four years. According to Montero, the new law is tied to a curriculum redesign, and as a teacher, he knows the system's situation inside out. "Changes must be made, and they must allow us to participate and contribute, as we have already done in the National Assembly's Education Commission," he specified. Montero believes the first step is to review the curriculum, participate in regional tests to gather solid data, and then engage in international participation, noting that they were going to the PISA test with outdated content. Montero stated that the teaching sector is open to changes because the content is outdated and lamented that previous administrations had not addressed it. "The teaching sector has qualified writers because those who must evaluate the redesign to be implemented in this training from February 2 to 13 are the teachers," he expressed. "Now we are going to enter a redesign of a curriculum that is lagging," he pointed out. He considered that if a new law is to be made, it must be done comprehensively, as school conditions have not improved in the last 30 years, and there are infrastructure deficiencies such as a lack of electricity and water, among others. He said that in this administration, 276 subjects have been modified, but the teaching sector did not participate in this analysis. "I will take the president at his word and hope that it is not just a patchwork solution," he concluded.