The roots of education in Panama dates back to the year 1903, immediately after the independence of the country from Colombian colonization. With it the initial foundations of Panama education were laid down in the first Panamanian Educational Assembly held in 1913. This particular assembly charted out guidelines for the educational policies in the country.

Among which, the most important was that of imparting education among the children with respect to their social position. This particular amendment harped mainly on the cultural aspect of education and defined it in accordance to the culture of a particular community or class.

Gradually Panama Education took a different turn in the 1920s, which dissipated a progressive view of education. The growing need for going up the social ladder brought in a change in the educational system of the country. Priorities were given to primary education and substantial government revenue was invested for the development of Panama Education. Subsequent steps taken by the government of Panama, brought about positive changes in the educational policies. For example, the number of students taking admission into primary schools doubled between the year 1920 and 1934. Similarly, the illiteracy rate had a sharp drop from 70 percent in the year 1923 to 28 % in the year 1950. With time, there was considerable improvement in the secondary and higher secondary educational system in the country, especially in the 1980s.

Panama school education was made compulsory for children between six to fifteen years. The primary school education is followed by secondary school education, which is inclusive of academic programs or vocational education. The former include subjects like Spanish, social science, religion, art and music. The vocational education includes professional or technical courses imparting technical skills. There are numerous specialization programs including agriculture, art, trade, commerce that the students can choose from while undergoing a vocational training. After the Panama secondary education, students can opt for Panama university programs.

The successive progress in Panama Education is reflected in the growing interest of the students in the academic field, which has resulted in the increase of number of enrollments in various educational institutes like Panama City colleges.