American Expatriate Costa Rica

First day of strike: more than 200 closed schools and cafeterias

The intermittent teacher strike that began on Monday left negative numbers for the education system. According to the report of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), a total of 18,079 teachers did not show up for work on Monday and instead joined the strike call by the unions. Those numbers represent 21.5% of the ministerial staff.

Each Regional Directorate made an attendance report by educational center, through a computer application designed to account for the number of closed, open, partially closed and open institutions not working, as well as officials reported as absent and suspended services.

As a result of the first day the following data were obtained:

– Of the 3346 registered centers, 2684 (78%) remained open.
– 210 educational centers from 14 regions did not open their doors to students.
– The largest number of closed centers are grouped in peripheral regions such as San Carlos (57), Nicoya (23), Aguirre (22), Santa Cruz (22) and Limón (22).
– A total of 527 schools allowed students to enter, but most teachers did not show up for work.
– In 15 institutions, teachers showed up for work but did not teach lessons.

Likewise, as a result of the strike, 161 student cafeterias did not provide the food service, while the service was not provided on 161 transport routes.

The real impact of the strike is related to the learning processes and the contents that the students will not be able to recover,”

said Guiselle Cruz, Minister of Education.

crhoy.com