Panama is discussing a new education law while the system continues to operate with a worn-out legal framework, little articulation between institutions, and training that does not align with the country's productive reality. The result is a model that still prioritizes memorization, has gaps in early childhood, trains teachers disconnected from the real classroom, and prepares students for a limited local market when competition is now global. "We cannot continue to form students only for Panama," warned former Education Minister Miguel Ángel Canizales. He recalled that it is at this stage that the most important cognitive competencies are formed, and paradoxically, where the fewest curricular transformations have been applied in Panama. A curriculum turned away from the labor market The former minister stated that a reform without the productive sector is doomed to fail. "There cannot be a curricular transformation that is not aligned with the objectives of the country's productive sectors." Canizales questioned that it is fragmented between institutions and not under an integral direction of the educational system. "Education is one. Early childhood must be coordinated with the Ministry of Education, which is the rector of the system. We have to break that paradigm and build a new pedagogical model," he pointed out. He indicated that the system must move towards complex thinking, integrate socio-emotional education, and strengthen digital and scientific training from an early age, regulating the use of technology instead of excluding it. Twelve years of mandatory schooling and real coverage The former minister proposed that compulsory schooling should cover the entire system. "Here there is no justification for a child to be outside the school system. Not just nine years: they must be twelve," he insisted. He warned that although official figures speak of coverage, when analyzed by age, important gaps appear, especially in preschool, the most decisive stage of development. Teachers trained far from the classroom Another symptom that the law has become obsolete is teacher training. "Teacher training is disconnected from the reality of the classroom. Today's employability demands and the competence of the global citizen oblige a change. They are the ones who validate our product," he expressed. He proposed that the table must include universities, experts, students, families, companies, and international organizations, avoiding that the process becomes politicized or remains in the hands of a single entity. Less memorization and more thought Canizales was critical of the traditional teaching model. "There should be less memorization and more thinking."
