So far this year, interest in distance education services in Central American markets has clearly increased, with Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras being the countries that have registered the greatest increases in interactions associated with the topic.
Through a system monitoring changes in consumer interests and preferences in Central American countries in real time, developed by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project short and long term demand trends for the different products, sectors and markets operating in the region.
Shorter university degrees that focus on technical areas and the new requirements of the productive sector are some of the changes that will be part of the new reality of the education business.
In this context of radical changes caused by the covid-19 crisis, new labor trends will require the development of competencies, such as entrepreneurship, agility, adaptability and service mentality, digital skills, food, telecommuting and home-based businesses, health and hygiene, e-commerce, new distribution and logistics models, information technology and robotics.
In Costa Rica, the business sector is optimistic about the positive opinion given about the dual education law initiative by the Congress commission in charge of the issue.
On November 15th, the Commission of Science, Technology and Education in the Congress approved the Dual Education Law, which has as one of its main objectives to incorporate students into the labor market.
The absence of a law regulating dual education has not prevented a tourist subsidiary of Florida Ice & Farm from implementing a successful program using this format.
The program has started to be implemented in the tourism sector through the National Training Institute (INA) and the company Florida Ice and Farm.The students"...
Lack of technically skilled labour is forcing some companies to bear the cost of training their employees.
Food technology and industrial electronics courses haven arisen precisely in response to the needs of the private sector, which increasingly needs employees with technical training.This was explained to Elnuevodiario.com.ni by Berta Mayela Quintanilla, "...
The Ministry of the Presidency is putting out to tender the design and construction of the Higher Technical Institute of the East (ITSE) in the province of Panama.
Panama Government Purchase 2015-0-03-0-08-LV-019042:
"DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF SUPERIOR TECHNICAL INSTITUTE (ITSE) OF THE EAST IN THE PROVINCE OF PANAMA (best value tender with separate evaluation)."
The private sector claims that it is not enough to invest $10 million in the construction of a technical school if the academic programs are not developed considering the staffing needs of the productive sectors.
The problem of a shortage of technically skilled labor in Panamanian companies will not be resolved if educational programs do not take as a starting point the demands of the productive sector.
In Costa Rica teachers at the National Institute who trains technicians, are preparing to teach classes on "social solidarity economy" under the concept that "private businesses have little or no critical concience about workers".
EDITORIAL
Private companies are wary of the recent inclusion of concepts related to cooperatives and unions in the educational programs at the National Institute of Learning, whose main objective is the teaching of technical skills, and whose resources come mainly, with 80%, from the private sector.
Despite its development in advanced countries, including the more established social democracies, dual education is fundamentally opposed by those who will always be threatened by any changes.
EDITORIAL
As with education unions throughout Latin America, where there is an imperative need for radical changes in education systems which are increasingly lagging behind the rest of the world, in Costa Rica the corporation of education workers is radically opposed to any changes, even those that have proven successful in countries with political systems focused on social welfare such as the European social democracies, as is dual education.
The government has announced that it expects to invest $400 million in the construction of six technical training centers in areas related to ports, logistics, agriculture, tourism and engineering.
The dynamics of business in Panama in sectors such as logistics and customer service, have increased the demand for qualified personnel for these functions.
The government and the private sector are preparing a plan to provide technical training to one thousand Panamanians per year in areas such as logistics, trading, freight and customer service.
An assessment made by the Ministry of Labor and Development of the Workforce in conjunction with 20 productive sectors concluded that "... Although there is a positive trend in employment generation, reaching an average of 8.1% annually, domestic firms have been limited in their efforts to fill vacancies. "
With the training of 8000 construction workers the guild seeks to improve the quality of the workforce and prepare to meet the demand from projects announced by the government and private industry.
The worker training sessions will be conducted jointly by the Nicaraguan Chamber of Construction (NCC) and the Technological Institute (Inatec), and will begin with the training of 8000 workers over a period of 4 months.
The government aims to restructure the institute by investing in new equipment and improving facilities, beginning with the construction of a water treatment plant.
The first phase includes the construction of the treatment plant, adaptation of laboratories and building a new one dedicated to biotechnology.
Prensa.com reported that "...The area of technical knowledge, there will be strengthening of materials for industrial crops, animal husbandry, cultivation of basic grains, animal health, reforestation, swine and poultry."
The country's labor problems could be solved by developing an immigration policy that allows skilled foreign workers to work and also train panamanians.
In his opinion piece Rene Quevedo notes the difficulties facing the Panamanian labor market due to a lack of national technical professionals and because of a preference for adult workers over young people with little experience and training.
The industrial sector has proposed a bill so that the National Training Institute can make more efficient use of budgetary resources.
The proposal would allow the Chamber of Industries National Training Institute (INA by its initials in Spanish) to invest resources not only in new buildings but also in buying new equipment and hiring qualified people to teach.