A/HRC/27/52/Add.1 a manner that is beneficial to those peoples and respectful of their human rights. As previously stated, under Act No. 11 of 2012, a minimum of 5 per cent of the revenues from hydroelectric projects in the Ngobe-Bugle comarca must be allocated to the Ngobe-Bugle community. The Special Rapporteur will closely monitor the implementation of this law. Education 62. As previously stated (see para. 18 above), Panama has a solid legal framework, including constitutional provisions and national and comarca laws, on education for indigenous peoples and intercultural and bilingual education. This framework is one of the most advanced of its kind that the Special Rapporteur has seen anywhere in the world. 63. In addition to these laws, the Ministry of Education has set up various programmes on education for indigenous peoples,46 including the following: (a) In 2007, the Government created the National Intercultural Bilingual Directorate,47 a body responsible for developing education programmes for indigenous peoples that are suited to their cultural norms; (b) The Ministry of Education has set up regional education directorates48 which have helped 42 Emberá and Wounaan schools and 369 Ngobe-Bugle educational centres to develop intercultural, bilingual education programmes in 2012. The Ministry also devised a 2013 Panama peer-to-peer project for training teachers, directors and supervisors working in rural and indigenous schools in the use of new instructional technologies. The Ministry has also developed a number of programmes to improve education within multi-grade educational centres in rural and indigenous areas based on teacher-training and other initiatives. 64. Academic achievement levels in the comarcas are improving. However, the gap in this regard between members of indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous population remains wide; for example, levels of school attendance among the indigenous communities are still lower than among the rest of the population. In general, indigenous children tend to leave school at an earlier age than children from other sectors of the population, with girls remaining at school for fewer years than boys. At the national level, on average, children attend school for 8.39 years, while the average for the Kuna Yala, Emberá-Wounaan and Ngobe-Bugle comarcas is 4.34 years, 4.32 years and 3.54 years,49 respectively. Illiteracy rates in the comarcas are higher than the national average of 5.5 per cent, as well. The averages for the Kuna Yala, Ngobe-Bugle and Emberá-Wounaan comarcas are 28.3 per cent, 30.8 per cent and 22.9 per cent,50 respectively. It should be noted, however, that these figures have improved since 2000. 65. Notwithstanding the progress made, indigenous peoples undoubtedly still face a number of obstacles in terms of their access to education, including a shortage of schools, particularly secondary schools in the comarcas and other rural communities that are home to indigenous peoples. The Ministry of Education estimates that around 96 per cent of schools in the indigenous comarcas are multi-grade institutions. Furthermore, progress in the provision of intercultural bilingual education is said to be limited; both indigenous 46 47 48 49 50 16 Ministry of Education, Gestión educativa en las poblaciones indígenas de Panamá en atención al derecho a la educación, July 2013. Executive Decree No. 274 of 31 August 2007. Executive Decree No. 323 of 18 October 2007. Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama, National Statistics and Census Institute, General and Educational Characteristics, table 21. Ministry of Health, Situación de Salud de Panamá, 2013, p. 37. GE.14-07234