Costa Rica Teacher Strike Leaves a Mess of Problems in its Wake

Written by Claire

Students took to the streets in front of the Ministry of Education
Costa Rican students in the street yesterday protesting lost classes.

If the high school teachers of Costa Rica have taught their students one thing this semester, it is a mixture of abandonment and how to protest. After a teacher strike by the union Asociación de Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE) left hundreds of students without classes for nearly a month, their students have followed in their footsteps to the streets in their own protest. The students are demanding that the nation-wide midterm exams be suspended because they have not had a fair chance to prepare due to the material lost during their days out of class.

It seems Costa Rican schools cannot win in this situation. Many of the schools are not willing comply with the Ministry’s orders to give classes on Saturdays to make up for the time lost during the strikes, as the strike began because teachers were not being paid fairly for extra hours worked. The directors of the schools claim that the material can be covered during ordinary class hours. The students affected by the strike lost an estimated 13 hours of class time in typical high school subjects such as Social Studies, Science, Math and Spanish, setting them far behind their peers that were not affected by the strikes.

Yesterday, teacher protests were replaced by hundreds of students in the streets around the La Merced Park in front of the Ministry of Education, blocking traffic and demanding that the national standardized tests not be required at the end of the year. The walkout was met by riot police who tried to secure the situation and let traffic continue as usual. There was one report of a student being hit by a car, and several disputes between students and drivers.

The same students are calling for another walkout on Friday until the Minister of Education, Leonardo Garnier, hears their demands. They are expected to meet in the Central Park at 10am and student organizers have been doing their part to involve local media to shed more light on their cause. It is unsure what their destination will be, but it is likely they will return to the Ministry.

It is still being disputed the best way for the students to recuperate the time lost and whether or not they will be given an extension for the standardized tests. Each high school will be allowed to decide on its own plan to make up for time lost, which must be approved by the Ministry of Education. Some hope to speed up the rate of classes and fit the extra material in a short amount of time, while others plan to incorporate the material slowly throughout the year or even in the following years as students move up to other grades.

Photo courtesy of La Nacion.

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