Panama
Name of the qualification in original language
Bachiller
Awarding body
1. Ministerio de Educación de Panamá (MEDUCA) / Ministry of Education of Panama
2. Dirección Regional / the different regional bureau of education of the country
3. the school
Total number of years of schooling
It depends on the duration of the Baccalaureate. It can be between 11 years (if the students didn't attend the prekindergarten and kindergarten) and 14 years of full bachelor including kindergarten years (prekindergarten and kindergarten).
General requirements for access to higher education
In Panama, no national pre-bachiller tests are applied. The student is promoted by his/her final overall grade.
Verification information
To verify the validity of the upper secondary school leaving diploma in Panama, the Regional Directorate of Education indicated in the diploma is consulted. The search in the archives is done by means of the students's code of personal identity (Cédula de Identidad Personal) and the numbering of the diploma.
Comments/Additional Information
The Principal certifies that the student with Personal Identity Card (Cédula de Identidad Personal) has completed the number of years of study required at primary level, the "Básica General" or General Basic (6 years of studies - it may or may not include 2 years of pre-kinder and kinder) and at secondary level, the "Premedia" and "Media". The number of years of the secondary level " Media" depends on of the number of years approved by MEDUCA for some upper secondary schools. The 6 years are divided into 3 years of Premedia and 3 years of Media. Upon completion of the 3-year "Media" education the students obtains the Bachillerato is awarded of "Bachiller".
Subjects: the subjects depend on the stream chosen. However, there is a core of the country's general culture that includes values, attitudes, citizenship, religion, history, geography, languages. Another core of subjects is subject to the type of technical knowledge according to the school orientation. For example, if the student is studying a Bachiller in Science the emphasis is placed on the scientific subjects such as chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics; if it is the Bachiller in Humanities, the emphasis is put on languages and literature subjects, history, logic.
Grading system: The school year is established 6 months in advance by a Executive Ministerial Decree. It is divided into 3 periods, called quarters. The grades of subjects are from a minimum of 1.0 to a maximum of 5.0 points; the final average of each subject per quarter must be with a minimum score of 3.0.
The diplomas are identified by the Cédula de Personal Identity (PID) which is a unique number that is given every Panamanian from the birth. It also has a consecutive numbering according to the number of diplomas awarded in a school by School Region (For example: School Region of Panama Centro, School Region of West Panama, etc.) and it carries a single date of issue that can either not coincide with the date of issue of the credits.
The diplomas are signed by the Principal of the school and the Regional Director of Education, according to the region of the country where the school is located.