Thousands of teachers in trouble for playing hooky

COSTA RICA – October 2^nd, 2012 – From August 8^th to the 10th, the High School Educators Association (APSE, in Spanish), held a teachers’ conference, which amongst a whole host of issues was to discuss sexual education, technical education, and violence in schools and other educational policies.

Some 3,000 teachers attended the conference rather than teach class those days, with the permission of their schools. However, the Ministry of Education received some 17,000 scanned and photocopied attendance certificates from teachers who had taken off work those days, supposedly to attend the conference.  As there were only 3,000 teachers physically in attendance, it would seem some 14,000 teachers used the conference as an excuse to attempt to play ‘hooky’ from school.

According to the Labor Code, article 81, section D, this is a serious issue, and the teachers could be subject to dismissal, with no right to a severance payment from the employer.

Leonardo Garnier, Minister of Public Education, says they are investigating, but did not provide any information in regards to what actions might be taken against the teachers.