Panama's Education Minister at the Center of a Scandal

The citizen who wakes up early every day to barely support his family, who has no secretaries, large salaries, state cars, or drivers at his disposal, lives with the frustration and dark horizon that awaits his children. Recently, that same minister tried to justify her incompetence in the low budget execution. This happened during the interrogation to which the Deputy Minister of Administrative Education, Roberto Elías Sevillano, was subjected, when he stated that the educators attending the so-called teacher training seminars received their respective snacks. Beyond the excuses and false explanations of the high-ranking official in the legislative plenary, his appearance made clear the absence of an official educational policy and the discoordination at the top of that Ministry. Instead, she is quick to threaten and repress educators and waste resources, as demonstrated by the recent trip to Israel, where she supposedly went to see the “advances” of a state denounced worldwide for massacres against the Palestinian people, who resist being dispossessed of their land and whose main Zionist aggressors have been condemned by the International Criminal Court after the genocide perpetrated. For Ms. Lucinda Molinar, the painful intervention of her deputy was a simple “human error.” She alleged that there was too much money allocated to her Ministry. While she resorts to that childish argument, children die on the long walks to the ruined schools to receive classes in inhuman conditions and with poor nutrition. Undoubtedly, the events that have occurred in the national educational sphere reveal the need to demand the appointment of a talented minister, with good credentials and a true social commitment. All Panamanian educators have a duty to call for unity in favor of a scientific and democratic education and accelerated human development. The 27 teacher unions in Panama must strengthen collective efforts with the only possible instrument: unity. The watchword is to forge unity not only with educators of all levels, but also with the workers and the original peoples, in pursuit of better days for the homeland. (Photo: Richard Bonilla / La Estrella de Panamá). By Florencio R. Muñoz B. Teacher and historian. “The lie has short legs,” warns the popular saying when one wants to hide the truth of a notorious fact. Minister Lucinda Molinar in the eye of the storm.