Education Ministry Demands
Complete School Year As School
Starts Next Monday
The school year
is about to begin and the
Ministerio de Educacion Publica
(MEP) - the Education Ministry -
says it will be closely
monitoring the school program to
ensure that all schools comply
with the 200 day school
calendar.
School in Costa Rica begins on
February 7, when thousands of
primary and secondary school
children begin classes and ends
December 15, 205 days in total,
allowing teachers 5
"professional" days.
The MEP says that this year they
will be very strict about the
school year, ensuring that every
school completes the required
number of school days and will
be demanding bi-monthly reports
from all schools of their
progress.
The MEP is also asking parents,
that before they enroll their
children in a private school,
they should make sure that the
school is accredited by the
Education Ministry. The MEP says
that at the moment 39 private
schools are not recognized by it
and could put the future of the
students in jeopardy.
Private schools are required to
follow the Education Ministry
guidelines and be accredited by
the MEP, that in addition to the
teaching program, should have
the proper insurance and follow
safety guidelines.
The MEP is urging all parents to
take a more active role in their
children's education and ensure
that the private school they
choose is registered with the
MEP.
One issue that will be
controversial to many parents
and students is the MEP decision
to require that all bags and
knapsacks brought to public
schools be checked by security
personnel. The measure to
eliminate the introduction of
arms and drugs in the schools.
"Chatting Up Women Can Land You
in Jail!"
That has been the headline
in several online news wire
services, with the story saying
that men in Costa Rica can now
be sent to prison for trying to
chat up women.
The story stems from a proposal
before the Legislative Assembly
for a law that would punish men,
for up to 50 days in prison, for
making lewd and degrading
remarks to women on the street.
Police say that the law will be
difficult to enforce, as it will
be hard to judge is the comment
is flattery or offensive. People
are very different and what is a
compliment to one, could be
offensive to another.
The proposal is to stop, what
some women say, is a real
problem with some men who make
gross remarks about their bodies
and/or their mothers and other
offensive remarks.
"Some men cross the line", one
woman who refused to remain
anonymous told ICR near the area
of the Correos de Costa Rica in
downtown San José.
Though Costa Rican women in
general like the flattery
bestowed on them as they stroll
the downtown streets, they don't
appreciate the insults and
degrading comments that some men
are their right to give.
The proposed law would allow
women to make complaints against
men who make unwanted and nasty
remarks at them while they
walking the public streets.
ICE With ¢20 Million Cellular
Fraud A Month
Cellular fraud costs the
Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) about ¢20
million colones (us$43.300
dollars) a month and the
institution is having difficulty
stopping it.
The fraud stems from what ICE
officials call an "organized
group" that use indigents to
purchase cellular service and
then the real owners run up a
large international calls bill
and then don't pay.
When ICE tries to collect on the
debt they find that the owner of
the service is indigent and
cannot pay, leaving the
institution holding the bag.
Giovanni Bonilla, legal director
at ICE, says that the
institution has ways of
detecting unusual use and fraud
of cellular service, but is
usually too late, the bill has
already run up and impossible to
collect. Bonilla added that one
such user ran up a ¢3 million
colones (us$6.500 dollar) bill
and then skipped payment.
The financial office at ICE says
that the institution is
currently owed some ¢10.930
million colones (us$23.709.000
dollars) from delinquent
clients.
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Central American Golf Tournament
Starts Today
The 62nd Central American Golf
Club Tournament tees off today
through February 5 at Costa
Rica's Country Club (in San
José), with the participation of
180 amateur players from six
countries of the region.
The players come from Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama,
according to a communique by the
organizers.
In the championship the
categories included are men's,
men's senior, women's and
women's senior, individual and
in teams.
In the case of the team
competitions this will be played
by points, hole by hole, while
in the individual contests the
winner is the one accumulating
the least number of hits, that
is, under the Medal Play style.
For the Costa Rican team, this
tournament represents an
important challenge, for they
will try to defend the contest
won last year in Managua,
Nicaragua.
The tournament has been played
uninterruptedly since 1944, and
over the past five occasions,
the competition has taken place
in Costa Rica, with victories
for the Costa Ricans.
Windstar Windfall to Arrive in
Coco
By Catherine Keogan,
Thebeachtimes.com
Playas del Coco and neighboring
beach destinations got an
unexpected boost this week with
the announcement Seattle-based
Windstar Cruises would begin
docking its motor sailing fleet
in the bay.
Captain Edgardo Fernandez
Fonseca of the port authority in
Playas del Coco confirmed the
motor sailing yacht, Windstar,
with a capacity of 148
passengers, would begin docking
from February 1.
The yachts would then arrive
every Tuesday throughout
February and March.
“As President of the Council,
I’m very pleased with news of
the arrival of the cruise ship
Windstar to Playas del Coco in
February,” a clearly delighted
Yadira Angulo Vargas, told The
Beach Times this week.
“Tourist development is growing
every day, and we feel our
municipality must not lag
behind,” President Angulo Vargas
said.
The Wind Star’s arrival marks
the first time a cruise ship has
docked in Playas del Coco, and
the Municipality, the Chamber of
Commerce and town business
leaders are planning an official
reception.
But while the decision to dock
in Playas del Coco is a huge
windfall for the community, the
move comes as a bitter blow to
neighboring Playa Flamingo,
which until this year had always
received the cruising yachts.
While the season for the yachts
is just a couple of months long,
disembarking passengers
potentially leave behind
hundreds of thousands in tourist
dollars.
Windstar Cruises’ decision to
move its Pacific Coast
operations to Playas del Coco is
a direct result of the closure
of Flamingo Marina.
“The cruise case is just one
example of the problem,” said
Giancarlo Pucci, Executive
Director of the Guanacaste
Chamber of Tourism.
“Independently of this cruise,
the fact that the marina in
Flamingo is closed has a big
impact on the zone,” Mr Pucci
said. “There are a whole lot of
businesses that turn around the
marina. It has been a big
problem for everyone over
there.”
The Municipality of Santa Cruz,
within which the Flamingo Marina
falls, began a process to
re-issue the concession to
develop and operate the marina
in September of 2003. Six
national and international
consortiums have bid for the
concession.
However, in a blow to local
businesses – particularly boat
owners and operators —- the
Costa Rican Coast Guard moved in
and closed the marina in June
last year, after it was deemed
to have been operating
illegally. Boats were evicted
and today, all loading and
unloading, is carried out from
the beach.
Ironically, Playas del Coco also
operates without docking
facilities.
Late last year, the Municipality
of Carrillo agreed to make
available more than $130,000 for
a multi-purpose dock to be built
at the far end of Playas del
Coco, near Playa Blanca. The
50-foot (15.3-meter) facility
will not allow permanent
docking, but rather loading and
unloading from a land facility.
At the time, President Angulo
Vargas said she expected
construction of the dock to be
put out to tender by February
this year. However, the dock
itself is unlikely to be
completed before August.
“We hope with this dock we can
really open up the Canton of
Carrillo,” Ms Angulo Vargas said
this week. “It will generate
income and provide labor in the
area.”
For its part, the Guanacaste
Chamber of Tourism wants to see
a decision on Flamingo’s marina
as soon as possible.
“The people at Playa Coco are
pretty happy, and as long as the
tourists are coming to Costa
Rica we are happy,” said
Executive Director, Pucci. “But
we also want those beaches that
have the infrastructure to
handle the tourists to be able
to get them.
“When the marina is there again,
everyone will feel the
improvement in
Conditions,” he said. “It all
depends on the marina.”
Seattle-based Windstar Cruises,
a part of Holland America, Inc,
was formed in the mid-1980s, and
operates three sailing yachts,
cruising to more than over 47
countries.
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