Educational Reform in the Americas: Increasing Access and Quality through Public-Private Partnerships

Speakers:

• Lucy Molinar, Minister of Education, Panama
• Melanio Paredes, Minister of Education, Dominican Republic

Summary

On June 10, 2010, Americas Society, with support from the Ford Foundation and Council of the Americas, hosted a public luncheon on the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in expanding access to quality education in Latin America. The event brought together high-level representatives from the public and private sectors, NGOs and philanthropic institutions to discuss initiatives that promote social inclusion. The discussion looked at expanding access to primary, secondary, and post-secondary, education with a focus on the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Top Priorities

Education Ministers Lucy Molinar and Melanio Paredes began by sharing their perspectives on how PPPs have served to increase inclusion and improve the performance of teachers and students. The ministers stressed the need to equip teachers with the tools and technology required to educate children in the twenty-first century. “Education must evolve to teach children that have grown up with technology around them,” Molinar noted. They also voiced the need for governments to help teachers, parents, and administrators understand their role to help children grow up into well-educated adults.

The Role of the Private Sector

In their discussion of the role of the private sector in education, Molinar and Paredes acknowledged the contribution to education of some private-sector companies through both their business activities and philanthropic endeavors. Molinar welcomed greater private-sector participation in support of public education initiatives and urged companies and foundations to think long-term about their commitment to education. The priorities of governments changewith each new election, she said, but private firms, NGOs, and foundations can help keep educational progress move forward despite political change.

Paredes discussed how private companies in many countries support families by providing jobs for parents and career goals for children. The private sector has also played a vital role in helping to bridge the gap between primary and secondary school enrollment through improvements to education infrastructure and expanded access to online learning tools. According to the ministers, the full potential of technology to improve education has yet to be realized in their countries and throughout Latin America. Here, the private sector has a unique ability to boost infrastructure in collaboration with local governments. Increasing investment in technology-based learning tools was a chief concern for both ministers, who noted that both student and teacher performance can be improved in this arena.

Challenges to Overcome

Lack of funding for education infrastructure and technology-based infrastructure stands as just one of the challenges facing students in both Panama and the Dominican Republic. Molinar and Paredes both expressed a desire to extend the school day in their respective countries but, again, a lack of funding currently makes that impossible. Paredes noted that “providing quality schooling to all is a challenge” and that “programs should be aimed at the most vulnerable.” Conditions in both countries at times limit public schooling to half-days and even require students to attend classes in shifts due to a lack of classrooms.

However, the greatest challenge the ministers raised was that of educating teachers for the next generation of students. Long-term plans are necessary to reform the methods teachers use to teach children in the coming century. For this, the ministers noted that improvements will not come through money alone, and will require that educators to commit themselves to using existing and future technologies.

Conclusion

It was evident by the number of participants and the contributions by both guests and speakers that improvements in the quality of education and access to education serve as areas that the public and private sectors hopeto pursue. As such, Americas Society, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, will undertake in-country research in Brazil and Peru to better understand the public-private partnerships in the region, gauge their successes and failures, and formulate best practices for public-private partnerships in education. Americas Society hopes to continue to promote a dialogue between public and private sectors and to promote their continued partnership in social inclusion initiatives in Latin American education.