Engineering for Kids and the Costa Rican Chamber of Technology, Information and Communication are opening the course “Design and Programming of Video Games” for children between the ages of 4 and twelve in Costa Rica. The classes will begin in August in La Uruca where Engineering for Kids is located, every Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. starting August 5 and concluding October 28. ...

The Constitutional Chamber of Costa Rica, the country's highest court, has given the Ministry of Education four months to establish an "inclusive education system" for people with autism and other disabilities, according to a sentence issued June 17 and published today. The court accepted an appeal presented by a 14-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder against Monterrey High School (Col...

Costa Rica’s Latina University will sign this Thursday an agreement with Kendall College, one of the most prestigious tourism schools according to CEO World’s Top Ranking, with the goal of strengthening the professional formation of the students. Students of the Hotel Management career will now have this international backing, as they will be part of the “Kendall Global Hospitality Management”...

Nature guides and environmental educators at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve welcomed an atypical group last week to their outdoor classroom. Ten young men from the Ofelia Vincenzi Specialized Center, a rehabilitation center run by the Ministry of Justice and Peace, visited for the first time the world renowned forest as part of their educational experience. Those chosen have ...

An in-depth health study that looked at Costa Rican's over-100 population - in particular the notable cluster of centenarians on Guanacaste's Nicoya Peninsula - has found some remarkable results. Specialists from the Costa Rican Social Security Agency's (CCSS) National Geriatrics and Gerontology Hospital visited the elderly in their homes and for the first time gathered data to gauge their phys...

Name an area of Costa Rica that is not at risk for volcanic eruptions, mosquito-borne diseases, flooding, landslides, or affected by high crime rates .... take your time. There are hardly any, right? This was part of the highly critical statement published by the Union of Private Sector Businesses today in response to a proposal by the Costa Rican Education Ministry (MEP, in Spanish) to rais...

What could be more paradoxical than kids in the newly proclaimed wellness tourism capital lacking outdoor areas to get exercise and have fun? Well, strangely enough, many rural areas in Costa Rica - whether due to hilly terrain, very wet climates, and other environmental and political factors present in this tropical country - do not have safe or apt areas for kids, especially young ones, to ru...

The Costa Rica - United States Cooperation Foundation (CRUSA), the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (CINDE), the North American Cultural Center - through its Education USA office, and the United States Embassy yesterday announced five scholarship opportunities for students at Costa Rica's Technical Professional Associations (CTP) and public schools that are part of the Internation...

With the objective of expanding bilateral cooperation in a number of areas relating to "human capital development," the Costa Rican government signed this week a memorandum of understanding with Minnesota State University - Mankato, in the midwestern U.S. "I am honored to sign this agreement with the government of Costa Rica...we look forward to strengthening our existing partnerships and provi...

Costa Rica ranks highest in Latin America for its investment in public education, according to data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). According to the commission's recent report, Costa Rica led the region in the proportion of resources allocated by the central government for public education, with 7.16 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) dedicated...

Envision a country with electric transportation, both public and private. That's all it would take to make Costa Rica cut its dependence on fossil fuels, with its already nearly total production of green electricity. Sound like a tall order? Monica Araya says that though she comes from a small country, she likes to dream big. The Yale-educated conservationist has turned her efforts over rece...

In 2015, Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Education started to undertake a "transformation" of its curriculum to include "sexuality and affectivity" as part of its offerings, explained Education Minister Sonia Marta Mora. She announced this week the creation of a new subject to be offered for all 10th graders in the 2018 Feb. - Dec. school year. The sexuality and affectivity class will be led...

The Texas Tech University in Costa Rica will be ready to open doors in August of 2018 in Avenida Escazú. According to information published by daily La Nación and provided by Jack Bimrose, Administrative Director of the University, students will have to pay approximately US $1,500.00 a month to study one of the offered careers, Electric Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Computer Sciences, Ma...

Turtle Island announces Cocos Island, Costa Rica conservation scholarship Applications can be sent in English or Spanish The international marine wildlife protection organization, Turtle Island, is offering a scholarship for a person in the beginning or early stages of his or her marine conservation career to participate a ten-day shark and turtle tagging expedition. The expedit...

The University of Costa Rica's San Pedro, San José campus will host a free, public symposium consisting of three talks in English on different neuropsychology topics on Friday, August 11 at 1 p.m., announced the Professional Association of Psychologists of Costa Rica. The event, "Neuropsychology: Applications and Research," will delve into how cognitive neuroscience can lead to better understan...

The Ministry of Education of Costa Rica (MEP) registers more than 500 private education institutions in the country; the large number of options can make picking the right school for your kids quite a challenge, that’s why today (Saturday,June 17) EKA Business Magazine is presenting the Private Schools Fair at the National Stadium. The entrance to the fair has a cost of only ¢1,000 (under $2), ...

A donation by the United States government of US$1.3 million will turn the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) into an environmental management model, and will allow EARTH University to receive more students from all over the world, said the U.S. Embassy at a ceremony this week. The funds will be used to improve EARTH University's infrastructure and to turn the La Selva Biological Station, a ...

The International Labor Organization (ILO) places Costa Rica first in the region in reducing labor among children between 5 and 14 years. The 2016 National Household Survey shows 12 thousand fewer underage workers. Costa Rica is committed to continue working to strengthen public policy to decrease child labor and is committed to remaining a regional leader by having the lowest index (1.1 percent)...

Photo Credit: Real Madrid Foundation / Facebook The Real Madrid Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed an agreement to develop new social-sports development projects in the Latin America and Caribbean region; Costa Rica will be one of the first countries to benefit from this agreement. The agreement was signed at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium by Luis Alberto Moreno,...

The Costa Rican Chamber of Industry (CICR) is offering a professional training session on detecting false bills later this month. On Saturday, June 24, 2017, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., those wishing to learn the proper techniques for recognizing false U.S. dollar bills, false Costa Rican colón bills, and/or false Euro bills, can partake in this unique and helpful training. The industry recommend...

The University of Costa Rica (UCR) climbed 60 spots in the QS World University Rankings carried out by Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. “The ranking takes into consideration the institutions’ qualities, from employability of graduates to sports facilities and community engagement using the QS Stars audit which evaluated each institution against over 50 different indicators and and awards universit...

Costa Rica's EKA business magazine has released its 2017 rankings of private schools in Costa Rica. Of the at least 500 private educational institutions in the country, about 180 offer a K-12 education according to the Ministry of Public Education (MEP). Schools are ranked in different categories including the 50 best schools in the country, the top 50 of the last five years, the best school...

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in August 1962, Costa Rica and South Korea have had a successful cooperation partnership which was bolstered during the visit of the President of the Republic, Luis Guillermo Solis, to the Asian country in October 2016. During last year's visit, the countries agreed to a Comprehensive Cooperation Alliance that outlined concrete political, economic...

While it's no secret to Costa Ricans that the country's public universities are the top ranked, and offer the widest selection of academic disciples and degree programs, what isn't talked about so openly is that their students disproportionately hail from the country's upper echelons. A recent report indicates that 57.8 percent of students at the country's state universities come from household...

Off the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica, scientists experiment with reviving coral reefs. Last year things turned pretty bad for coral reefs throughout the world due to ocean warming caused by El Niño and human activities that bleached and caused death in many reefs, including those in the Golfo Dulce. By "reforesting" the coral reef with fragments of coral "planted" in ceramic discs, a...

The University of Costa Rica's School of Pharmacy has invited an internationally renowned export on market regulation of cannabis, Julio Calzada, to lead a free conference on the topic. Calzada is a Uruguayan sociologist and politician with over 30 years experience in health promotion projects notably those designed to reduce harm in the use of illicit drugs. Such programs, known as "harm reduc...

A deadly shooting this Monday at the entrance to a private school in the densely populated district of Guachipelin, Escazú to the west of San José, Costa Rica, has safety officials scrambling to increase security measures at schools throughout the country. Thursday, May 18, Minister of Public Security Gustavo Mata, said such an incident should never happen again in Costa Rica, and to this end i...

To celebrate the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (May 17th), the Costa Rican National University (UNA, in Spanish) Student Federation organized a special event. Starting May 15 at the UNA Sarapiquí campus, and conclude on May 26 in Nicoya and Liberia, the sexual diversity caravan (CaravanaDeLaDiversidadSexual) emphasizes love and respect, and will highlight demons...

-- A UCR student research project looks at factors that influence the microbiological stability of bottled hot sauce to prevent problems like botulism. Carolina Zúñiga Arrieta's dissertation research at the University of Costa Rica's School of Food Technology was selected as one of six finalists in an annual research competition organized by the U.S.-based Institute of Food Technologists (IFT),...

Note - Several details have been updated in this article according to new police reports. This story was updated May 19, to include a correct name for the Lebanese homicide victim, whose name is not Akleh, as originally reported, but Akl, according to new police reports. A shootout this morning involving two cars, two dead men, two at-large suspects, and two aids on motorcycles outside a privat...

According to preliminary reports by police and in local media, a shootout took place this morning, Monday, May 15, at 7:30 in Guachipelín de Escazú in front of the Mount View Educational Center, a private school. Two people are reported dead. In the incident, a Lexus 4x4 driven by Elias Akl was shot at outside the school in the upscale western district of San José, and then entered the facility...

The National University (UNA) and the Latin America University of Science and Technology (ULACIT) have announced a series of activities to raise awareness and celebrate the rights of the LGBTI community. ULACIT will kick off the activities with the conference by American activist John Corvino, author of the books Debating Same-Sex Marriage and What's Wrong With Homosexuality?; scheduled for Wed...

The coffee industry in Costa Rica can be a good alternative for the young in search of a job in Costa Rica. The Technical-Professional High-School of Santa María de Dota knows this, and therefore “Coffee Industrialization” is a subject included as a subarea within the specialty of Alimentary Agro-Industry with agricultural technology. The area of Santa María de Dota is located in the Zona de Lo...

A Heads of Agreement was signed and initial underwriting has commenced between GPM Global (GPM), University for International Cooperation (UCI), Village Green Global Inc. (VGG) and Rio Gigante Community; to establish the International Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development (IIPSD). The Institute which will be the first graduate school in the world to focus on regenerative development u...

As Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís finishes the final year of his term, he urged legislators to focus on eight priority pieces of legislation in his address to this nation earlier this week. The first of these is relating to the value added tax, or VAT. Under this legislation, the current sales tax would become a value added tax (VAT), but remain at the same 13 percent rate. The p...

When the La Cruz elementary school director decided to allow Nicaragua students to join her Costa Rican classes, things started to change. La Cruz, Upala, at Alajuela province's northernmost point, is on the border with Nicaragua. Under the guidance of creative designers and communicators from J. Walter Thompson and with the commitment of Costa Rica's leading TV station, Teletica, the children ...

The Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center will offer a course on the life and work of Spanish painter Francisco Goya (1746-1828) better known for his detailed engravings and the contemporary language of his paintings. Classes will be imparted by art historian Flor Gallardo in four sessions every Friday in May, beginning May 5th and through May 26th, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. These se...

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as part of their PISA evaluation (Program for International Student Assessment) 2015, in their report “Students’ Well Being”, which was released at the end of April and includes a chapter on bullying, Costa Rica is the second country in Latin America with more bullying cases among the countries that are part of the OECD....

In July 1999, 21-year-old Claire McFarlanel was brutally raped and left almost dead in the streets of Paris, France when she was about to take a cab home after leaving work. Her attacker was captured 10 years later by means of DNA tests; since her attack, she has been fighting for her cause in the French courts. Last year, McFarlanel, now 38, started what she says is the "biggest journey of her...

The Costa Rican Comptroller’s Office (CGR) has taken on the challenge of inspiring citizens to be proactive in exercising their rights and understanding their responsibilities. The “Juntos Somos Mas” (Together We Are More) campaign was launched last year and works mainly through public schools to instill the civic notions of public responsibility, working for the common good, non-discrimination...