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Home Countries Panama

Education Options In Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jun 16, 2010
in Panama, Retirement/Living
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School Days, Panama-Style

Two friends making plans to relocate within the next few months to Panama City with young children have reminded me of another of Panama’s advantages: It’s home to a great number of international-standard schooling options, including three internationally accredited bilingual schools.

These three top-tier schools with international accreditation aren’t cheap. The International School of Panama (ISP–www.isp.edu.pa), the Balboa Academy (www.balboaacademy.org), and the Oxford International School (www.oxfordpanama.com) charge US$8,000 to US$10,000 per year for elementary-level enrollment. This on top of one-time capital fees of as much as US$10,000 per child.

ISP offers the International Baccalaureate program at the diploma level.

In addition, though, you have about four-dozen private school choices, most of which offer bilingual instruction, plus three Hebrew schools and, we were delighted to discover when we got serious about relocating from Paris to Panama City two years ago, a French school. These options are all more affordable than the three top-level choices I mentioned earlier. Tuition can be as little as US$100 a month for each of the nine months of the Panamanian school year, which runs from March through November. Summer vacation starts in December and continues through the dry season.

Our son Jackson was 8 years old when we moved from France to Panama. He’d been attending public school in Paris since the age of 4. His French was and remains better than his English.

Plus, we intend eventually to return to Paris, perhaps before Jackson is finished his elementary-level education. In that case, we’d want him to be able to slide back into the French system.

The Paul Gauguin French school here in Panama City where we’ve therefore enrolled Jack is administered, not by the Panama Ministry of Education, but by the French one. The teachers and the administration come from France, and the curriculum, the calendar, the extra-curricular activities, and all the annual events are the same as they would be at any public school in France. All classes are taught in French (save English and Spanish, twice a week each, and Sociales, or Social Studies, which focuses on the history, the geography, and the culture of Panama).

What about a kid’s life in Panama outside school?

Jackson has a private guitar tutor (at a cost of US$20 per hour-and-a-half lesson in our home). He plays in a basketball league managed by the Kiwanis Club of Panama using the gym at the former U.S. military base called Clayton. And he’s going to begin taking horse riding lessons offered by another group also using facilities at Clayton.

Ten-year-old Jack has sleepovers, goes to birthday parties, and was invited last Saturday afternoon to his first boy-girl party at a karaoke club downtown. (He’d be horrified to know I told you that.) He’s been watching World Cup soccer games this month and trading the team collector’s cards with friends at school.

My point is that, here in Panama City, we believe Jack is getting a solid, international-level education. He has learned to speak Spanish fluently, making him fully tri-lingual. And he has made friends from all over the world.

He and they have happy, peaceful, well-rounded little lives. And their community of internationally minded children is growing all the time.

Kathleen Peddicord

 

Tags: college panamacost private collegeeducation panamaoption educationprivate elementary school
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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