After several years waiting for the right to education, Térraba indigenous community finally has a school for their children. The school houses 150 students from the seventh to the eleventh grade. In addition, 18 people from the community work there.
However, to have the educational center, the town went through a long waiting process. According to Paulino Nájera, a local resident, five years ago it was unimaginable to have a space like this to study in his community.
Before the creation of the institution, children had to walk for hours to reach the community named Brujo and from there those who had the resources took public transport to go to the Professional Technical College of Buenos Aires in Puntarenas.
In addition, the neighbors admit that the journey to get to class was not the only problem but that many students were victims of abuse and discrimination.
My eldest son went to technical school but they did not give him the degree, he was put in the dining room to do the dishes and he was the last one to eat. The others even had to fight because people hit them, they had to be hurt because they were indigenous,”
said Nájera.
The MEP assigned a code to the community, and so the classes started under the shadows of the trees, then in a communal room, and finally in the new facilities.