Why Costa Rica Real Estate?
Culture
Education
Costa Ricans are a highly cultured and educated people: the country has a 96% literacy among those 10 years of age and up, the most literate population in all of Central America. Many Costa Rica's founding fathers, most notably the first president, Jose Maria Castro, were primarily educators who understood the value of education as a great facilitator of prosperity and brought this to Costa Rica government during its inception. In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to construct an education system that was both free and mandatory. Schools were funded by the state's staple export revenues, coffee and bananas. When these policies were born only one out of ten Costa Ricans could read and write. By 1920 the over half of the population was literate and by 1979, 90% were able to read and write.
Over the last twenty-five years there have been strong advances in education. During this time, the Costa Rican government has invested roughly 30% of the national budget on primary and secondary education. President Figueres, elected in 1994, advocated policies to turn Costa Rica into a front runner in this technological age. By 1998 there was a computer in each of the nation's 4000 schools and compulsory English classes. The technological and tourist industries boom of recent years have been complimentary.
Elementary and High schools are available in rural and urban areas alike. Elementary school has 6 grade levels much like the U.S,. High school has a five grade level program. Each is divided in two cycles, and upon completion of each cycle, students are required to pass tests on all subjects studied during those years. The Bachillerato Tests are required to get the high school diploma required for admittance to Universities.
The first university in Costa Rica was established in 1940. Costa Rica is now home to four, world class, public universities and many small private colleges. The state-funded universities are prestigious and very difficult to get into. Opportunities have been created for adults as well to enable them to gain the primary or secondary diplomas if they had not already.
The University of Costa Rica (UCR), the largest and oldest university, enrolls some 35,000 students, mostly on scholarships, but even paying full tuition is not hard as it rarely surpasses $200 a semester. The main campus is in the northeastern San Jose community of San Pedro but the UCR also has regional centers in Alajuela, Turrialba, Puntarenas and Cartago. The National University in Heredia, offers a variety of liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies to 13,000 students . Cartago's Technical Institute of Costa Rica (ITCR) specializes in science and technology, and seeks to train people for agriculture, industry and mining. And the State Correspondence University, founded in 1978, is modeled after the United Kingdom's Open University and has 32 regional centers offering 15 degree courses in health, education, business administration, and the liberal arts.
