Education in Panama and how do we do this. We just explain the public school system, as none of us had the money to visit a private school.
If you’d like to know a little bit more about the school system Panama maybe this will give you a little bit more information.
For the little ones we have the kinder or as well called Coif. Here, depending on the Coif, parents can bring their children in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, like kindergarten in Europe.
The Coif is financed by the Government and parents pay monthly around $50 depending on the Coif.
Lunch is inclusive, but snack, juice, fruits and material for art etc has to be paid for and brought by the parents. Not all parents can afford the Coif and as we have a very large and happy family system often grandparents take care of the little ones.
Once children turn 6 years old, school is obligatory by law. The first 5 years of school start. After 5 years you change to College and The uniform is required, and yes, there are laws about how long the skirt, hairstyle, no jewelry, etc.Here every school director more or less makes her/his own rules. Classes are 40 minutes and after 120 minutes there is a 20 minutes break and then once more 120 minutes. After this you go home and yes there always is homework to do.Mondays school starts with signing the national item and raising the flag.
School starts traditional after carnival and ends around the 15 of December. In between there are a week vacation but not more. The school year is divided in trimesters and the highest is a 5 lowest a 1 and that is real low. If your promedio is better than 3 you get government financial support. This is between 90 to 150 $ per trimester depending the age.
After the 7 th year the students decide which direction they want to continue in college , depending on their future study wishes. Here as well the support from the government increases if the student has higher marks than 4.5 .
After finishing college you can study on a public university for free, but you have to pay for your materials. As well there are a lot of scholarships every year to which many different country’s students can apply to.
Now you are asking if the school system is a good one, there is a lot of religion involved and a lot of drawing but then if you want to learn you can, and with good grades and afterward a scholarship to a country of your choice everybody has the start of the success ladder.
