Panama

Legal Status

In August 2021, the Panama National Assembly passed a law that recognized homeschooling as a legal exemption to the compulsory attendance law. The law explicitly recognizes that all parents are protected in their right to homeschool. It also provides for notification to the ministry of education, offers training (optional for parents with a bachelor’s degree), and provides for annual assessments. You can read the signed law here.

In Panama, the Constitution allocates chapter 5 of Title III on Individual and Social Rights and Duties to Education. Article 91 provides that the State organizes and directs the public service of national education and guarantees parents the right to participate in the educational process of their children, while Art. 94 guarantees freedom of education and recognizes the right to create private teaching centers compliant with what is established by law.

Art. 9537, on the other hand, establishes the gratuity of the official education, in all the pre-university levels, and the obligatory nature of the first level of education or general basic education.

Within the framework of the “Organic Law of Education” compulsory schooling is established. Regarding the compulsory nature of Primary Education, it is established in Art. 71, which defines it as the obligation of the child to receive education and the obligation of the State to impart it. In this same line Art. 75 provides that no child under fifteen (15) years may engage in work or activity that deprives them of the right to attend school. The same article establishes a fine for parents who contravene the provision.

The above text (but edited and updated for relevancy by HSLDA) is taken directly from OLASE - Observatorio Latinoamericano de Aprendizajes sin Escuelas.

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