Costa Rica News – When is the Costa Rican government going to see that when they finally see that if they have quality measures in effect in every part of government run organizations is the only time that these scams and in essence stealing will be halted. Laws are only laws if they are being efficiently enforced. This is not the case in Costa Rica.
Laws are passed in Costa Rica but the government does not think ahead into what is needed to make sure these laws are followed.
They banned shark finning, but without an increase in boats policing the seas nothing will happen.
They put the new traffic laws in place and did not train the police into their implementation.
There are many more examples of these failures. This is mostly due to the fact that Costa Ricans have a difficult time actually thinking about the concept of future.
When you look at the banking laws they passed these have measures to make sure they are followed and although I do not agree with these banking laws, they are being put into effect and followed.
The key is putting quality control measures in place to make sure that government entities are following all rules.
Registration of “ghost students” in early 2012, increased salaries of directors and the numbers of students in schools across Costa Rica.
It is reported the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) found no trace of students that “enrolled” earlier in the year, during an audit administered between April and June 2012.
Salaries of the school directors and certain financial aid received by institutions (such as canteens and administrative boards) depend on the enrollment numbers.
For example, the basic salary of a director of a school with 30 students is ¢ 466,000, and it qualifies as a one-teacher school. If you have 31 students, that salary increases to ¢ 520,000, and that increase puts it in a different school category.
In high school, the number of students reported also determines the size of the groups and the lessons assigned to each teacher.
Surprise visits were implemented in 1055 primary schools and 256 secondary schools.
As indicated yesterday MEP Planning Director, Ricardo Vindas in the primary schools usually has about a 50% variation and in secondary schools about a 60% variation.
“Most students absent at the time of the audit and had no record of being there, which suggests that they are made up or go to another school,” said Vindas.
Meanwhile, in schools for inconsistent data were linked more with the number of groups and the allocation of lessons per teacher.
As I said before the biggest problem in Costa Rica is the school public school system. Without education nothing will ever change.
