BRIEFS. education

Officials mull changes to school calendar

An education consultant has suggested that the school calendar in rural areas should be changed to reduce the number of students who drop out because their family needs them to work.

Oscar Amargós, a consultant with the International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor, said that implementing a calendar in which students attend school for 15 days, and then stay at home for 15 days, will help reduce the number of dropouts.

Amargós is in Panama to develop a “roadmap” for eliminating child labor. He is working with the support of the International Labor Organization and local government associations. He said that similar programs have been successful in Peru and Guatemala, and have helped convince parents to allow their children to stay in school.

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