Bill 34.

Summary.

The bill adds Article 22-A to Law 1 of January 11, 1965, to distinguish two forms of educational funding. It defines financial assistance as funding for professional development through the acquisition of scientific or technical knowledge related to the recipient's degree or diploma. This development enables recipients to update their knowledge, specialize, or work with innovative techniques. Financial assistance programs are funded through the national budget. The same article defines scholarships as nonrepayable funding for general basic, secondary, and higher education for distinguished Panamanian students or professionals, and for foreign students who, under international agreements and conventions, pursue higher education in the Republic of Panama. Funding sources include the national budget, international organizations, foreign governments, and domestic and foreign individuals or private parties.

Through a new Article 22-B of Law 1 of January 11, 1965, the bill provides that financial assistance may be awarded only to students whose family income does not exceed 2,000 balboas (B/. 2,000.00). This condition applies to the award of financial assistance defined in the preceding article.

The amendment to Article 23 retains the Institute's special and immediate attention to financial assistance for the professional development of public officials within or outside the country when justified by the needs of the service. Once that need has been established, the Institute's Director General asks the hierarchical superiors responsible for state services to identify candidates for loans or financial assistance. The article excludes senior officials with decision-making authority from financial assistance: the President and Vice President of the Republic, ministers and deputy ministers, oversight and supervisory authorities, heads of diplomatic and consular missions, members of the listed boards of directors, executives of autonomous or semi-autonomous institutions, and territorial and municipal authorities. It also includes principal and alternate members of the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional), attorneys general, justices of the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) and the Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Electoral), public employees or officials responsible for handling public funds under the Fiscal Code, and any other public servant designated as the highest authority of an institution. The exclusion also extends to their relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity and the second degree of affinity.

Article 4 states that Article 22-A is created and Article 23 of Law 1 of January 11, 1965, is amended. Article 5 provides that the proposed law takes effect on the day following its promulgation. By virtue of its content, the bill concerns the Institute, state services, the Electoral Tribunal, and the other listed authorities; it may be of interest to students, professionals, public officials, their relatives, and the education and professional training sectors.