Entre Pares 5.0 — Panama's National Teacher AI and Digital Literacy Cascade Programme

Entre Pares ('Among Peers') is Panama's ongoing national teacher digital-competency programme, run by the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA) with UNESCO and Huawei; its fifth cycle, Entre Pares 5.0, opened lead-trainer enrolment on 7 October 2024 and closed on 17 October 2024.

Build teacher digital literacy and AI-tool competency nationwide through a cascade-training model.

1,550 educators were selected and trained as facilitators, who delivered synchronous six-hour workshops (split into daily 90-minute sessions) to cascade-train roughly 52,000-52,500 in-service teachers across all 16 of Panama's educational regions during the 2025 summer training period; content covered Microsoft Teams, the 'Libreta Digital' platform, cybersecurity, institutional email use, and AI tools for classroom use via a UNESCO/Huawei MOOC, framed within a STEAM approach; UNESCO and Huawei contributed training modules, resources, mentoring, and monitoring/evaluation support; MEDUCA is also establishing close to 70 teacher-education centres nationwide.

Reported results to date are reach figures (numbers of trainers and teachers trained) and general statements of improved teacher confidence relayed through UN and ministry communications, not an independently published, peer-reviewed evaluation of classroom practice or student learning outcomes; the UNESCO/Huawei monitoring-and-evaluation findings referenced in official communications have not yet been made public.

Broader Panamanian education indicators — such as school enrolment rising from 90% (2017) to 98% (2023) — reflect the wider UN-backed education partnership in Panama and cannot be attributed specifically to Entre Pares.