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Education in Crisis, Child
Poverty Increased, UNICEF
Reports Says
According to a United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) report
on Costa Rica, the country is
moving slowly on the subject of
children, especially in the area
of education and poverty.
The report titled "V Estado de
la Niñez y la Adolescencia en
Costa Rica" says that the number
of minor children living in
poverty climbed to 449.224
(32.5%) in 2005 from 370.437
(29.6%) in 2000.
The report says that the state
of education is in a "critical"
state, saying that only 33% of
the children graduate and only
20% of students do not repeat a
year, while the rest repeat at
least one year or more.
The report adds that the
government should place more
emphasis on secondary (high
school) education as the number
of students attending the last
two years of secondary education
drops to 38.4%, only completing
the first three years of higher
education.
"It has become difficult to keep
the children in school, many are
just lazy, others say it is
difficult, which leads me to
believe that not that school is
complicated but as teachers were
are not teaching well", said
Leonardo Garnier, Minister of
Education.
Chilren make up 1/3 of the
population or 1.458.416 children
of a large number live in
poverty.
As to child labour, the report
says that 10% of Costa Rican
children are in the work force,
a number that reflects that the
country is not yet ready to
protect the young.
The report also touches on the
national infant mortality, a
rate that has climbed from 9.2%
in 2005 to 9.8% in 2005 and that
the rate is almost double that,
at 18.2%, in the Talamance
region.
During that period, the number
of births to Costa Rican women
dropped, however, the number of
births to foreigners increased.
In Los Chiles, the northern area
bordering with Nicaragua, grew
58%, while in Garabito (the
Central Pacific) the growth rate
was 38%.
Another important fact in the
report is that increase in the
number of births in adolescent
mothers, especially in the
coastal areas of Guanacaste,
Puntarenas and Limon, where 13%
of all births are to minors and
at least 500 minors under the
age of 15 had child in 2005.
Other relevant facts revealed in
the report are, that although
abortion is illegal in Costa
Rica the report says that one in
five pregnancies are terminated,
while breast feeding has
increased; the major cause of
minor deaths if due to traffic
accidents; and, even though mal
nutrition has decreased, obesity
in children has increased.
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