Education Policy and Reform in Latin America: Innovation, Inclusion, and Public-Private Partnerships

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Prepared by Madeleine Kir Ferry Johnson
February 24, 2011

• Lucy Molinar, Minister of Education, Panama (keynote presentation)
• Ricardo Cuenca, Associate Researcher, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP)
• Joice Fernandes, Worldwide Senior Director, Public Private Alliances, Microsoft Corporation
• Ada Lucia Gallegos, Head of Institutional Relations, Ministry of Education, Peru
• Felipe Vergara, Co-Founder and CEO, Lumni, Inc. (read a feature on him in Americas Quarterly)
• Jason Marczak, Director of Policy, AS/COA; Senior Editor, Americas Quarterly (moderator)

Summary

On February 10, AS/COA and AQ partnered with Miami Dade College and the City of Miami to host a program on improving the access to and quality of education in Latin America. The discussion looked at education innovations in Panama and best practices for creating effective partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to promote the inclusion of traditionally marginalized populations.

Changing the mentality surrounding education

Panamanian Education Minister Lucy Molinar opened the program with a synopsis of the reforms she has undertaken to revamp the country’s education system. When she took office in 2009, her primary challenge was to address the discrepancy between strong investor confidence and the image of Panama as an important business destination, but with a workforce that remained unprepared to take advantage of the ensuing opportunities.

The education system in Panama had not been reformed in 30 years, largely because of fear of backlash and strikes from the teacher unions. Minister Molinar began by changing the mentality surrounding education, driving home the idea that “we must reform or we will fall behind.” She has also worked to update the curriculum: no more outdated courses like shorthand, but a renewed focus on the core competencies of math, reading, and science.

Minister Molinar is dedicated to teaching the skills that will be used in the workforce, which is contingent on private sector cooperation. She has implemented a series of workshops bringing together the private sector and educators with the aim of updating the curriculum to reflect changes in new teaching methodologies. She solicited increased private sector cooperation, particularly in vocational schools—creating programs where educators spend a few days in industry and professionals in turn spend time in the classroom—to ensure the methods of preparing students were up to current industry practice.

Another important element was to bring technology into the classroom. Microsoft’s Joice Fernandes highlighted the need to bridge the digital divide in Latin America and provide access to technology for all. However, he noted that technology is only an enabler and requires extensive training to be used effectively. Working closely with Microsoft, the Panamanian government launched an extensive training program for teachers across the country, many of whom had no previous experience with computers. The sessions included materials and examples of effective use of technology in the classroom. According to Minister Molinar, this generated so much excitement among teachers in preparing their lesson plans that they began to loosen the union mentality of a strict workweek (7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with one hour break), taking pride in putting in the time it takes to achieve results.

Minister Molinar also implemented a program working with Chevron to change the way parents view their roles in complementing their children’s education. Ultimately, she said, her goal was to humanize the education system and emphasize to teachers that they are not dealing with 40 bodies in a classroom, but shaping 40 young lives. This shift in thinking is fundamental to developing a new generation of leaders.

Engaging all stakeholders in Panama also meant enlisting the help of students to implement reforms. Molinar argued that if you teach students in a way that speaks to them, you are giving a silent mass a voice and opening tremendous possibilities. She believes the twenty-first century student does not want “repeat after me” teaching methods. They want to be much more active in their education by asking questions and solving problems themselves. She called on teachers to embrace new methods and recruited 500 student ambassadors to make sure other students were actively participating in class.

Effective public-private partnerships (PPPs)

Across Latin America, other governments are facing similar issues and there is a fundamental shift in the actors involved in education policy: public sector, private sector, NGOs, and foundations are all playing a role.

The issue of ensuring access to education is an important one. AS/COA’s Jason Marczak noted that there is a great variance between access among top and bottom income quintiles, which becomes more pronounced for secondary and post-secondary education. Lumni’s Felipe Vergara added that while there have been tremendous gains in recent years in terms of increasing access, very low-income populations and minority groups (such as indigenous or afro-Latino populations) have been left out. He called for reforms to pave the way for a more meritocratic system in the region; this in turn would increase competitiveness.

Speakers agreed that collaboration between the public and private sectors is crucial to the success of reform. Ada Gallegos of the Peruvian Ministry of Education underscored that education is the path to development for Latin American countries, and too important to be left solely in the hands of the state. However, Vergara noted that the public sector is obviously the 800-pound gorilla in the room when discussing education. He cited, for example, the marked difference between the California state budget for education (roughly $200 million last year) and the Gates Foundation budget for education (about $2 million). The state will continue to own education projects, but there are important opportunities for collaboration and input from other groups.

Joice Fernandes emphasized that governments are by no means outsourcing education to private companies when they work together on training programs like the one in Panama. This is a true partnership and as trust is built among different groups involved in PPPs, these programs will gain more prominence. She said.

Ada Gallegos agreed that developing trust is essential to building more successful PPPs and overcoming any institutional barriers. In Peru, corporate social responsibility is becoming much more organized and businesses are taking the opportunity to adopt schools in rural villages and donate much-needed supplies. She is hopeful that we are at a nascent moment in these corporate efforts.

Focus on developing human capital

As conversation turned to the quality of education, speakers focused on higher education and the need for results. Ricardo Cuenca of the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos emphasized that the obvious goal is to have a job when you graduate from university. He called for private sector participation to ensure a transfer of knowledge and adequate and relevant training for students.

Vergara’s company, Lumni, focuses on both access to and quality of education by connecting students with sources of capital to finance their university education. The program offers grants to students who are then paid back through a small fraction of their income over a fixed number of months once employed after graduation. Lumni currently operates funds of about $17 million, which includes donations from corporations, wealthy families or successful alumni of the program.

Vergara noted a hunger in the business community to develop human capital and mentioned that the company was approached by SAB Miller (or Bavaria in Colombia) to manage an endowment focused on education. Employees were polled on the most important reforms needed in society, and, when they chose education, the corporation decided to fund scholarships that increase access for lower-income students, like the children of their employees.

In another example, Office Depot started a program with Lumni to increase mobility in their workforce. In Mexico, 95 percent of their employees have only a high school diploma. They are now identifying future leaders, funding a university education, and promoting them to take on a new role within the company.

The hope is that once you generate excitement and success among a small group, people within a company or neighborhood start talking and others will follow. Minister Molinar’s reforms attempt to capture the imagination of students and teachers to entice them to continue to move forward. Vergara agrees that a model that instills a sense of accomplishment will generate contagious enthusiasm and illuminate a path to get ahead.