PRESIDENT Varela’s attempt to  increase the number of English speakers in Pananam appears to have fallen flat according to a new report.

Education First's  English Proficiency Index,  says Costa Rica and El Salvador have not been able to raise their level of proficiency in the last five years, while Panama and Guatemala, which in 2014 and 2015 did improve their performance, fell in 2016 to the "Very low" level.

The index published each year by Global Education First defines three levels of language proficiency in 72 countries around the world. In the world rankings, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador ranked 38, 53, 50 and 63, respectively.

For  2015, Panama deteriorated from "Low" to "Very Low", while Costa Rica has remained "Low" since 2011, without any improvement.

El Salvador, on the other hand, ranked 63rd worldwide and last place in Latin America, at the "Very Low" level, where it has been since 2012. Only in 2011 did it reach the "Low" level.