GLORIA ESTEFAN - ESTEFAN PRAISED FOR PANAMA SCHOOL INITIATIVE

ESTEFAN PRAISED FOR PANAMA SCHOOL INITIATIVE

Latina star GLORIA ESTEFAN has been praised for supporting a programme to improve Panama's education system. The singer paid a visit to a rural school in the Central American country on Monday (08Oct07), where she was presented with flowers and thanked by Panamanian first lady Vivian de Torrijos, who spearheaded the improvement scheme. And Estefan admits she is delighted by the positive changes her help has made in the ranch schools - which are often badly equipped, with just one teacher, a blackboard and chairs. She says, "The beautiful thing is to see that things are really changing in the lives of these children. "I think the parents are doing an incredible job in helping their children. ... God willing, things will change even more."