Costa Rica News – You get off your flight to Costa Rica. You go through baggage claim to pick up your luggage. You then head outside and are asked right away by about 20 different taxi drivers asking you where you want to go. Do they speak English? You would think yes……..but their certificates may be fake…….
Agents of the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) raided a private English-language school in Costa Rica accused of issuing fake certificates to taxi drivers who provide transport services at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport, outside San José.
Costa Rica’s Public Transportation Council (CTP) requires taxi drivers to obtain certificates from accredited English-language schools that certify they speak the language at a conversational level, but it seems that they did not really want to do the work and as it is with many things in Costa Rica……there are ways around the law. (Shhhhh don’t tell anyone)
So how much did the fake certificates go for?
The rumor is $320 a pop and they did not have to attend one class.
The question is how deep does this thing really go?
While tutoring English classes for a friend of mine in Heredia, she would tell me about how some of the students’ parents would pay teachers a little extra in order to have them pass their children.
There has been various times where it ha been questioned about the validity of college and post-graduate diplomas in Costa Rica being bought instead of earned.
This behavior is showing children that money and cheating is more important that working hard and getting a good education.
