education

School system dissected over summer break

la prensa

in shambles: As school campuses across the country await badly needed structural repairs, education officials admitted that administration within the education system also needs major work. 1139837

Education officials reviewing reports on the academic year that recently ended found that schools dominated by cliques of teachers and an excess of parental influence and ineffective administrators are some of the major issues facing the country’s public education system.

Jorge Chang, director of Legal Processes at the Ministry of Education, said his agency had received complaints from about 22 school principals for problems ranging from mismanagement of funds to poor relations with the educational community and ineptitude.

And Chang indicated that those cases represented the mere tip of the iceberg, since many of the complaints about administration and staff at the country’s 4,000 public campuses are often directed to third party agencies for investigation.

In fact, with the exception of Bocas del Toro, there’s at least one school administrator under investigation in every province, and 14 total in the Panama and Veraguas provinces.

Education Minister Salvador Rodríguez said that the lack of leadership at schools is a growing problem all over the country, but particularly in the provinces of Panama, Colón and Chiriquí.

The minister claims that many of the administrators in the school system have displayed incompetence in both managing financial resources and staff.

Rodríguez acknowledged that there ought to be better administrative training for educators, as well as incentives such as raises or promotions for those teachers that show initiative and improvement.

Paulina Franceschi, president of the National Council of Education, commented that countries that have successfully overhauled their education system implemented a model prioritizing meaningful and relevant educational processes and a strong group of leaders that foster a good working environment between teachers.

Both Rodríguez and Franceschi felt that the need for administrators to regain the respect and leadership at their schools was imperative.

Principal Luis López opined that the clear lack of leadership within some schools is often a result of low morale.

“Teachers and students just assume that they are using the school resources for personal use or trivial purchases,” he said.

But he also added that the manner of hiring principals is misguided, usually based on a list of arbitrary requirements that don’t coincide with the administrator’s actual duties.

Sociologist Raul Leis said that the deficiencies in education are a product of a comprehensive problem, where the environment of violence and disintegration of society play a role.

Leis explained that discipline should be viewed as a way of promoting a sense of respect among class peers and cultivating an attitude of belonging and pride.