The Institute for the Training and Use of Human Resources (Ifarhu)headed by his general director Carlos Godoy This Thursday, September 17, the formation of the National Commission for the Analysis of Priority Careers 2027-2031.
This initiative is in order to reform the distribution of the educational budget towards professions with high labor demand and leave behind the discretion associated with financial aid.
During the announcement, Godoy explained that the entity is working on a roadmap to define the real requirements of the labor market in the different regions of the country, recognizing that the historical allocation of benefits in overpopulated areas has directly impacted occupancy levels.
“We have a diagnosis of careers that have already been saturated and that, as a result of continuing to provide scholarships to these students, we are practically contributing to increasing youth unemployment.”said the director of Ifarhu when referring to the oversupply in areas such as law, accounting, teaching, economics and business administration.
He further argued that Public resources must be directed towards technology, artificial intelligence and sustainable development, marking a turn compared to the previous management of the economic aid program, characterized by questions of transparency and lack of academic criteria.
“Such a high investment that the National Government and taxpayers have, of more than 500 million dollars annually, is not reflected in its impact on employability”, Godoy emphasized the need to reorient state spending.
To prepare the diagnosis, the working group brings together the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Senacyt (National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation), the National Council of Private Enterprise and the Council of Rectors of Panama.
The schedule includes carrying out territorial consultations starting in October 2026 to structure a final technical report in the first quarter of 2027.
It is expected that this proposal will improve citizen perception about Ifarhu, where several officials of the institution such as its former director Bernardo Meneses, are being accused of alleged mismanagement of more than $50 million in financial aid.
