{"id":5181,"date":"2023-08-21T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T12:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/education-in-panama-are-we-prepared-for-the-challenges-of-this-decade\/"},"modified":"2023-08-21T07:41:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T12:41:00","slug":"education-in-panama-are-we-prepared-for-the-challenges-of-this-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/education-in-panama-are-we-prepared-for-the-challenges-of-this-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Education in Panama: Are We Prepared for the Challenges of This Decade?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Yamilet Zachrisson, Chair of the Education Committee \/ Sr. Legal Counsel – Dell Technologies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past 3 years, we have lived through pivotal events in the development of our societies and economies. Global challenges have arisen in health, technology, logistics, the environment and security, such as the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, Russian aggression in Ukraine, the IPCC reports on climate change, the possibility of Panama taking part in the semiconductor production chain and the arrival of generative artificial intelligence. We are at a decisive moment in our history and, to be successful, we need the social capital required to meet these challenges. That raises a fundamental question: is our workforce equipped to meet the challenges of this decade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer this question, we must first estimate what labor demand will look like and in which disciplines. Fortunately, last month we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Milena G\u00f3mez Cede\u00f1o, Educational Manager – Rector of ITSE, and Dr. Ivonne Torres Atencio, director of the Department of Pharmacology at the Universidad de Panam\u00e1, at a conference for AMCHAM\u2019s Education Committee and Health Committee on the state of education in Panama in the health sector. Of particular relevance to this topic is ITSE\u2019s estimate of the jobs that will be created in the coming years. According to UN data, by 2040 75% of jobs will be related to the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given this demand, are we in a good position to meet it? Looking at the results of the 2018 PISA tests, of the 15-year-old students who took the test, most did not have the minimum required levels in mathematics, science and reading. And although gross coverage in the education sector is growing (~47% as of 2015) according to IDB figures, the same report shows us that the share of higher education among those aged 29 to 65 is extremely low. After all, the vast majority of our productive workforce falls within this age range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tying together the ideas set out above, we are at a decisive moment for the history of Panama and the world, one in which we will need to increase the supply of our workforce qualified in third-level STEM disciplines. Although the coverage rate in higher education has grown over the past decade, there are still shortcomings in secondary education in mathematics, reading and science, and in higher education for people between the ages of 29 and 65, which calls for efforts to increase higher education coverage for those over 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever shortcomings in education are discussed, we can be left with a bitter taste, a sense of hopelessness; but in the near future we see incredible opportunities. There is still time, and by focusing on the right problems we can find ourselves in an incredible future for our country and for our young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We invite all AMCHAM members to take part in the Education Committee to stay informed about relevant issues concerning education in Panama. Our goal is to contribute to members and represent them, as well as to bring forward data and current topics. If you would like to take part, I invite you to contact me at Yamilet_Zachrisson@Dell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past 3 years, we have lived through pivotal events in the development of our societies and economies. Global challenges have arisen in health, technology, logistics, the environment and security, such as\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"comite":[16],"class_list":["post-5181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-noticias","comite-educacion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5181"},{"taxonomy":"comite","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panamcham.rewind10.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comite?post=5181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}