Advances and challenges in Education in Costa Rica

Advances and challenges in Education in Costa Rica

The education in Costa Rica has been described as (Schwab & Sala-i-Martín, 2013-2014): “a high-quality educational system (20^th place) that provides a skilled labor force, as well as a relatively high rate of technological adoption and business sophistication”. The recent improvement has been achieved through (CONARE, September 2013): “improvement on funding, expansion on access opportunities, the academic offer was partially renovated, new provisions were adopted in favor of students and a process of decentralization of management began to apply on primary schools and high schools”[1]. Consequently, while improvements and advances has been deployed in Costa Rica for the past 5 years; challenges still persist in development plans, the percentage of desertion and inclusion/penetration.

The improvement on funding has been possible through modifications on changes on budget designed and agreements with World Bank. These agreements even support the Costa Rica higher education (The World Bank, 2012): “The objectives of the Higher Education Improvement Project for Costa Rica are to improve access and quality, to increase investments in innovation and scientific and technological development, as well as to upgrade institutional management, all in Costa Rica's public higher education system”.

Besides, the literacy rate on Costa Rica for 2011, for adults and youth is more than 90% according with UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Another improvement that educational system has achieved is the support of the institutions that are not related directly with education but provides an additional sponsor. Today Costa Rica has a total of twenty-seven institutions that support the education system. Many reforms since the creation of the Costa Rican educational system have been implemented such as: environmental protection (obligatory in the curriculum in primary and secondary education), anti-discrimination, issues like diversity, drugs, tolerance and special attention for people with disabilities. (Navarro, 2013)

Still, according with “State of Education” report the improvements have been explicit and tangible, however these improvements are not connected or synchronized with the weakness that the educational system is suffering (CONARE, September 2013)[2] : ”The contrast between these courses of evolution reflects a fundamental question: in education remain disconnected strengths Weaknesses , despite the obvious dynamism that the industry has had the effect of new policies and improved funding”.

The report found that in 2009, 70 percent of five-year-olds attended pre-school, a two-fold increase from 1999. Also in 1999, only 56 percent of students aged 13-15 enrolled in secondary education classes.

By 2009, that rate increased to 77 percent. Among 16- to 18-year-olds, 53 percent completed basic high school education in 2009, up from 40 percent in 2000. (Téllez, 2011)

The problems that have been identify for desertion are many and distributed according with the nature of the issue.

Only 46 percent of students enrolled in the final stage of the high school program. As a result, more than half of Costa Rican students in that age group turned their backs on universities and trade schools, which require high school diplomas for admission, some reasons for dropping out, according to the study, are: lack of interest by parents and students (30 percent), financial reasons (16 percent), learning difficulties (9 percent) and work (8 percent).

As a result, more than half of Costa Rican students in that age group turned their backs on universities and trade schools, which require high school diplomas for admission. (Téllez, 2011)

Through the years the system has been evaluated several times and modifications have been applied. The educational system performance has received several investigations, specifically with curriculum, pedagogic methods, promotion, repetition and exclusion.

One of them is PISA test, which aids to gather information and understand the knowledge developed in solving daily challenges.

A recent participation of Costa Rica, for the first time in testing the Program for International Student Assessment of the OECD, or PISA, opened an opportunity to measure the ability of students to use the knowledge acquired in solving everyday situations or problems, and to explore the social, environmental and personal experience, that are associated with that skill. The statistical analysis applied to the results of the PISA test reveals that there are attitudes and habits of young people, and their immediate context, which are key to improving academic performance. In the two tests MEP -Spanish and mathematically analyzed it determined that there are aspects of the immediate environment, such as household socioeconomic status and family expectations for student achievement that are directly related to academic performance. This evidence points to the need to provide mechanisms to compensate these gaps caused by factors outside the education system[3]. (CONARE, September 2013)

Hence, the importance of consider the contents and have modifications if necessary in order to accomplish with international standards, it is exposed (Navarro, 2013): “The modification in the Costa Ricans’ legal systems need to be hand-in-hand with the reforms in the educational system”; so the quality will be improve and the students will have access to superior education and quality of life.

The results concludes that there is not only one specific area of improvement, thus the necessity to have a diversity focus on area. In order to achieve a successful action plan, the citizens and government need to work together to reassure their educational objectives and priorities, so a sustainable, significant and ethically development can be reached.

References

CONARE. (September 2013). Estado de la Educación Costarricense - Programa Estado De la Nación. San Jose: Editorama S.A.

Navarro, D. M. (2013, August ). Questioning the Costa Rican Education system. Retrieved from Academia: http://www.academia.edu/4182720/Questioning_the_Costa_Rican_Education_system

Schwab, K., & Sala-i-Martín, X. (2013-2014). The Global Competitiveness Report. Ginevra: World Economic Forum.

Téllez, R. (2011). Costa Rica school system improving, says government report. The Tico Times.

The World Bank. (2012, September 27). Project: Costa Rica Higher Education. Retrieved from The World Bank IBRD - IDA: http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P123146/costa-rica-higher-education?lang=en

UNESCO-Institute for Statistics. (September, 2013). Adult and Youth Literacy - UNESCO Institute for Statistics Fact Sheet. UNESCO.

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[1] “En los últimos años hubo mejoras en el financiamiento, se ampliaron las oportunidades de acceso, se renovó parcialmente la oferta educativa, se aprobaron nuevas disposiciones en favor de los estudiantes y se inició un proceso de transferencia de competencias de gestión a las escuelas y colegios” (CONARE, September 2013, page 27)  This reference has been translated by the author.

[2] “El contraste entre estos cursos de evolución refleja una cuestión de fondo: en el sistema educativo las fortalezas siguen desconectadas de las debilidades, pese a la evidente dinamización que ha tenido el sector por efecto de las nuevas políticas y la mejora en su financiamiento” (CONARE, September 2013, page 27)  This reference has been translated by the author.

[3] La reciente participación de Costa Rica, por primera vez, en las pruebas del Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos de la OCDE, o pruebas PISA, abrió una oportunidad para investigar la habilidad de los estudiantes para usar los conocimientos adquiridos en la solución de situaciones o problemas cotidianos, y de explorar los factores sociales, del entorno y de la trayectoria personal, que están asociados a esa habilidad. El análisis estadístico aplicado a los resultados de las pruebas PISA revela que hay actitudes y hábitos de los jóvenes, y de su contexto inmediato, que son claves para mejorar el rendimiento académico. En las dos pruebas del MEP analizadas –español y matemática– se determinó que hay aspectos del entorno inmediato, como el nivel socioeconómico del hogar y las expectativas familiares sobre el logro del estudiante, que tienen relación directa con el rendimiento académico. Esta evidencia señala la necesidad de proveer mecanismos que compensen las brechas originadas por estos factores externos al sistema educativo. (CONARE, September 2013, page 65)  This reference has been translated by the author.