Panamá_ Teachers Trade Unions reiterated during a dialogue with the government their demands to invest the six percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on education, revealed today Diogenes Sanchez, union leader

As reported by Prensa Latina, the State representatives strive to meet such a requirement, but the secretary general of the Association of Professors of the Republic of Panama (ASOPROF) said not to be very convinced of that will.

"We talked also of decent schools for our students, because today’s are in ruins. Provide greater resources to the Ministry of Education (Meduca) so they can meet the high demands of the education system," Sanchez said.

The first day of dialogue ended without arrangements or suspension of the call for the teacher’s general strike called for next Monday.

"We agree, a strike is not desirable, because it loses the education system and we are do what is necessary to avoid that situation," said Minister of the Presidency, Alvaro Aleman, who heads the government commission composed of four other members.

The meeting between the Executive and 17 teachers' unions, who also discussed the need to pay the debt of the traveling expenses to those working in areas of difficult access, which date back more than five years, the leader of ASOPROF said.

"We demand a decent education for students and fair wage for educators," he said.

An official statement on the closed-door meeting said the government made proposal of five key points, in order to achieve an agreement with the teachers' unions and avoid disruption of the school calendar 2016 in the public sector.

Pay adjustment for teachers, modification or subrogation of Decree 155 which creates the Assessment System of Education Centers and the commitment on both sides with the quality of education and the teacher’s performance are the first propositions included.

The government package also proposes to establish a mechanism for the payment of approximately eight million dollars in wages owed to teachers and improving school infrastructure over the next three years, through the program My First School.

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