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Steady
But Slow Progress on EFA Goal in Costa Rica
By Nefer Munoz
Inter Press Service
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SAN JOSE, Apr 11 (IPS) - Costa Rica's educational system has
made steady but slow progress in the past decade, and more must
be done, according to an official report prepared for the World
Education Forum due later this month in Dakar. |
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The report is based on a study carried out last year to assess
the progress made towards Education For All or EFA, the target
adopted at a 1990 global conference in Jomtien, Thailand,
aiming at a reduction of dropout and repetition rates and
an increase in enrollment and the number of obligatory years
of schooling.
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Costa Rica invests the equivalent of six percent of its annual
Gross Domestic Production (GDP) in education, and its low
illiteracy rate stands out among its Central American neighbours.
But education authorities say much more needs to be done.
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The high rate of repetition in primary school, a high dropout
rate in secondary school and a lack of refresher courses and
ongoing training opportunities for teachers are the weak points
of the system.
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''In 10 years we have made strides, but we have also accumulated
enormous challenges,'' said Zaida Sanchez, deputy minister
of education.
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Sanchez, a high school teacher, coordinated the first local
Education For All plan in 1990 and headed the group evaluating
the results last year.
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The deputy minister told IPS that one of the reasons progress
was slow in the 1990s was that most of the efforts had to
simply focus on reversing the impact on the educational system
of the economic crisis that swept the country -- and the entire
region -- in the 1980s.
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''One of the big achievements of the 1990s was the modification
of Article 78 of the constitution, which obligated the State
to invest the equivalent of six percent of GDP in education,''
said Sanchez.
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She maintained, however, that at least 6.7 percent of GDP
would actually be needed to cover all of today's needs.
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According to the report, 92.7 percent of Costa Rica's population
of 3.5 million is literate, and the aim is to push that proportion
up to 96 percent by 2002. Schooling in Costa Rica is mandatory
from ages six to 15.
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One major stride was the implementation of universal pre-school
since 1997. Furthermore, primary school enrollment stands
at 100 percent.
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But enrollment in secondary school is just 62 percent. In
fact, one of the most disturbing aspects of the report is
the high number of youngsters who for one reason or another
drop out of school.
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Another worrisome statistic is that 20 percent of children
repeat first grade, which specialists attribute to shortcomings
in the methods used for teaching the rudiments of reading
and writing.
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The report also points to the failure to ''consolidate a national
teacher training system'' in the 1990s -- a pressing problem,
given that 41 percent of the country's primary schools have
just one teacher for all grade levels.
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The issue also crops up in high school, where 19 percent of
teachers have no degree.
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''One of my dreams is for all high school teachers to have
degrees, and that enough resources be available to provide
all educators with ongoing training,'' said Sanchez.
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Some experts say Costa Rica's big problem in the field of
education is that it has failed to invest its resources in
the best manner.
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''A lot of funds are invested, but always in more of the same,''
said Clotilde Fonseca, director of the non-governmental Omar
Dengo Foundation, an institution dedicated to developing innovative
educational techniques.
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According to Fonseca, countries like Costa Rica should invest
more in new teaching methods and technological programmes.
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This article
is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced provided
that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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