Costa Rica Schools: An Overview
Costa Rica boasts about having more teachers than policemen. Many of the rulers of Costa Rica have been educators as well and they have placed great importance in the expansion of the primary and secondary education even in the most remote areas in the country. Thanks to the ongoing reforms, Costa Rica has a 93% literacy rate.
Schools at Costa Rica
Primary education in most Costa Rica Schools last for almost six years while Costa Rica High Schools might be five or six years, the first being the academic and the latter years are for technical or professional. At the end of the high school, the Costa Rican students will receive a title in Science. The system is applied to all public Schools in Costa Rica. But there are also private grammar school and high schools which utilize European and American system. There are lots of articles that assure the integrity of the system. Jose Maria Castro is the first elected president of Costa Rica and was also a teacher and because of his reform and the past president, in 1869 Costa Rica has become the first country in the world where education became obligatory and free. This fact is expressed by the Article 78 of the Costa Rican Constitution. In Article 79, it guarantees the freedom of education. This means that educational institutions may confer grammar and high school degrees. Moreover, students in public schools have to wear their official uniform in order to lessen the economic and social distinctions between students. All of these preserve the conservation of an institution that is considered sacred in Costa Rica. In fact, one of the presidents in Costa Rica declared the teaching of Computer Science and English to be mandatory in all the public schools in the country. This signifies the training of 500 teachers and the huge expense on the part of the government.
Apart from public schools, there are many private schools options in Costa Rica. There are North American, German, and Japanese Schools. The explosion of private schools and foreign schools in the country have given the opportunity to lessen the overcrowding public schools and has provide an alternate educational system for those students who can afford going to private schools.
Country Day is an American School in Costa Rica that was founded in San Jose in 1963 and caters to students ranging from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Country Day School in Costa Rica is one of the best known American schools that offers top notch education. This school is meant for students who can speak English as their first language even though some students do not know how to speak English are accepted on a conditional basis. This school is located in Escazu close to the Escazu Central Park and there is also a campus in our region of Guanacaste in the town of Brasilito. Country Day School Guanacaste was founded in 2002 and has a beautiful campus with great facilities and also offers boarding for students.
La Paz Community School is a newer school in our area of Guanacaste in Flamingo Beach. La Paz was founded in 2007 and offers great education to students from Pre-K to 11th grade. The school is completely 100% bilingual and is also a non-profit school that offers scholarship programs to students to cannot otherwise afford a private school education. There are currently 180 students enrolled in La Paz from Costa Rica, USA, Europe and beyond. La Paz recently completed its campus for the upper grades and continues to expand as the need for quality education is in demand.
With a seeming wealth of options in the zone from Tamarindo to Flamingo we must also mention the Gold Coast Learning Center run by Mark & Carol Sluzky two educators formerly of the country Day School. The concept of Guided online learning is catching fire and the Gold Coast Learning Center has had the fortune of sending some of their students on to such acclaimed colleges as MIT. If you have a highly motivated college bound High School student than this is the option for you. Gold Coast also offers a 5 and 7 day boarding program.
