business & economy

Also in this section:
Panama Canal expansion project selectively hyped
Intellectual property rights and public health
The Panama News readership figures
Teachers in search of jobs
Business & Economy Briefs

Some of Panama's many jobless teachers waited around the Ministry of Education offices in Perejil two weeks after the school year was underway in hopes of getting a classroom assignment in the metro area. In some rural schools, there were unfilled teaching posts. This country has trained enough teachers --- whether well enough is another question --- to lengthen school days, reduce classroom sizes and otherwise improve public education. However, funding for the schools is limited, the politicians mostly send their kids to private schools and now the University of Panama is thinking about cutbacks in its Faculty of Education because according to their crude market values the education industry is "saturated." Photo by Eric Jackson