My impression of the schools in Puerto is that they are adequate, but in no way provide the best education in Panama.
I have personally attended 3 of the schools here in Puerto.
Although, the longest that I ever attended one of these schools was four months. This is because the style of teaching is so different from what it is in the US.
Lots of Copy Work
In the schools here, the teacher has the only text book in the class. So a lot of the time spent in class is occupied with either copying your down your lessons off the white board, or
copying down your homework. For some reason the school system seems allergic to printing out worksheets.
I’ve heard from several of my friends that still attend school here, that they only go to school to see their friends. The quality of learning leaves much to be desired, and the curriculum is mediocre at best.
The students learn math and history and the other essentials, but the there seems to be no emphasis on reading or continuing your education beyond high school.
School Activities
There are good things too, for example in some schools you can play a variety of sports and can learn many of the traditional dances. All the schools have a marching band, and they all participate in a yearly city parades.
If you’re looking into schools here there are a few things you might want to know.
ESPA
First, of all the schools here Escuela Secondario de Puerto Armuelles (ESPA) is the largest and most highly recommended in town. From what I’ve heard it also has the highest standard for learning. It is also the only one with a band with instruments, other than the drum and xylophone.
You may also want to read a post I (Betsy) wrote about schools in Panama. It includes a short video of my daughter Skylar in her 1st grade class here in Panama.
Collegio San Antonio
Among the other schools here, the one I attended most recently was San Antonio. San Antonio is known as one of the higher profile schools in town. This school is a three in one: elementary, middle, and high school, all in one large building. It has kept up a reputation as a fairly good school for the last 50 years. However it’s elementary school is known to be poorer quality then some of the others in town. The middle school is supposed to be one of the best. San Antonio was the school that made me
decide that the Panamanian school system was not for me.
Las Palmas School
The last school on this short list is the Las Palmas school, which is located, of course, in the Las Palmas neighborhood. This is the school I have attended most frequently, three times to be exact.
My take-away from the Las Palmas School is that it is highly over-estimated. A couple of decades ago, at the end of the Chiquita years, the Las Palmas school was the best in town. And now over twenty years later people still believe it to be one of the best schools.
However the truth is that with the contribution of bad principals and teachers, the school has deteriorated. This school is supposedly bilingual, but from my experience the school’s English teachers speak worse English then an American five year old. That may be a bit harsh, but it’s the truth.
The students I’ve met that have attended the Las Palmas school can barely string together a sentence in English.
Oh fun fact before I go, the original Las Palmas school building was burnt to the ground, maybe in hopes of erasing it from the school system. But is was rebuilt, and sadly still features ever the decreasing teaching and learning standards taught there.
Questions?
This is, of course, only a brief summery of the most popular schools here in Puerto.
I have provided a list of all schools in Puerto Armuelles at the end of the article, as well as
their geographical locations.
If you can’t find one of the schools on the map you may have to ask around town.
If you would like more information about a particular school ask me in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
Skylar.
List Of Schools:
- Colegio San Antonio
- Las Palmas school
- Escuela Tomas Armuelles
- Escuela Secondario de Puerto Armuelles (ESPA)
- Escuela El Buen Pastor
- Escuela Monte Verde
- Escuela Los Angeles
- Escuela San Vicente
- Instituto Puerto Armuelles
- Escuela Adventista de Baru
This article was written by my 14 year old daughter, Skylar Vayda. Over the winter, Skylar will be writing a Panama-related articles. She will be picking the topic. We hope you enjoy them.
P.S. School starts here in just a few days -Monday, Feb. 29, 2016.
My husband and I are coming to visit Panama in the hopes of relocating there with our kids, 10 and 2 years of age. We are looking at 4 different towns, including Puerto, throughout Panama to see what each has to offer and what would work best for us.
Obviously schools are very important to us. We want a nice mixture of English and Spanish in the schools since we speak English and very little Spanish. I do hope that the kids will pick up on the language quickly but fear total immersion will discourage them when learning in school. What was your experience with the language barrier in school and how did you make friends, learn, etc? Can you also tell me if there are any schools that have English in their curriculum? You mentioned that reading is not something that is emphasized; in your opinion, should we purchase grade level workbooks and reading books for the kids before we move to help them not fall behind if we ever decide to return to the US? Puerto looks beautiful and I am hoping that its not too remote for what our family is looking for. Thanks for all your knowledge and feedback! You are appreciated!
Hi Charlie,
There is an English school here, Las Palmas school.
The English taught there is not great, but it is a good starting point for English-speaking kids.
I know 2 American boys who currently attend it.
Almost all of the schools in Puerto also have a class to teach English as well.
Children do pick up the language quickly and going to a school here is a good way to make friends. However, of more importance, I think, is to live in a neighborhood with similarly-aged children. Hanging out with Spanish-speaking children is the best way to learn Spanish.
My oldest daughter started school here when she was 5. She already spoke some Spanish and plus she is very social. She picked up the language very fast. Much faster than my younger daughter, who is shy and until recently (she is now almost 10) would not speak to anyone she didn’t already know very well.
I am not sure if I would bring books with me. If you decide you need some school materials, there is so much available online. Plus the books they use in the schools here to teach English are readily available. The Everyday series seems popular here. If you want to work on reading with your 2 year old in a few years, I like the Explode The Code series.
One thing I advise is to make sure you have a current library card and bring a kindle or other tablet to read on. I borrow digital books all the time for both myself and my kids from the library in Seattle, Washington.
In general, I don’t think the schools in Panama are very good. There is not alot of emphasis on critical thinking. The focus seems to be on rote memorization. There are a few expensive private schools in Panama City which are the exception. I have heard some good things
about one or two schools in David, but I have never followed up to see if it is true.
However, attending school in Panama has alot of positives. For one, you and your children will immediately feel like you are more part of the community. I think the negative side of the schools can be counter acted easily. As parents, we need explore the world of learning and critical thinking with our children. There is so much available online and in life to help do this, but it does take some work and effort on the part of the parents. I don’t think you need to supplement the school with a US-based curriculum to do it. Doing twice as much school is not fun for anyone.
Of course, in the 10 years since we moved down I have become a very comfortable unschooler. When I first delved into the notion of unschooling (and even home schooling) I was extremely uncomfortable with the notion. Now I cannot imagine a better way to engage children in learning.
I am not sure that was very helpful, but I hope so.
As a student of Las Palmas Elemenary School and Colegio San Antonio I must say that I am quite sad after reading this article. Some of the comments are harsh.
I can share with you my experience as a “porteño” during the good old days of the Chiriqui Land Company. Las Palmas Elementary School was the best. We were taught by American teachers using American books. We were fluent in English and in Spanish. These were the 70´s. Puerto Armuelles was prosperous with all the money coming in because of the “green gold”.
Las Palmas School suffered two fires. The first one happened when I was in third grade. We moved to the “new building” that used to be the “Club Viejo”. Sadly thirty years later this building also was destroyed by a fire. You are referring to the second fire. The small building housing Kinder, first and second grade is part of the original two buildings.
My high school studies were in Colegio San Antonio. It is a totally different system, I agree. One thing I can say is that, after graduating from Colegio San Antonio, I went straight into engineering with no problem. I had a good base in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Math. As a matter of fact Spanish was a tough subject for me but at the end my spelling and communication in Spanish was above average. The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul were teachers and principal of San Antonio at that time.
I understand a new banana company is coming to my beloved hometown. I pray to God this will change things for the best. Things will pick up and we will be then reading articles of how great things are in Puerto Armuelles, including education.
Hi Waldo,
Thank you for your comment. I did not mean to sound harsh, just honest.
Yes, back in the day, Las Palmas school was excellent. It was still able to be a good school for many years after Chiquita left. But over time, it went down hill. I have talked to good teachers who used to teach there, but stopped because they were not being paid. Not surprisingly, the best English teachers choose not to teach there.
Colegio San Antonio is a good school, and my children did not go to high school there. I am sure they teach the core subjects well. However, in this day and age, even more important than knowing a subject well is your critical thinking and problem solving skills. Perhaps San Antonio encourages those skills in high school, I saw no evidence of it in the lower grades.
Thank you again for your comment. I appreciate hearing from you.