The Labor strike that has paralyzed many public schools in Costa Rica for over four weeks was deemed illegal by the labor court.

Judge Francisco Quesada ruled on the matter and declared the strike of employees of the Ministry of Education illegal under the argument that the movement was not peaceful.

“When it comes to the actions of the labor unions, including those in contradiction of the matter at hand, who participated -collectively- of the protests that generated complete road blocks in many of the national roads, we must state that their behavior is reproachable and that it can not be considered a peaceful movement”, reads the sentence.

In response to the resolution the Ministry of Public Education called on all the teachers and personnel to go back to their work immediately in order to reactivate the 2018 school year.

More than 50% of the public schools in the country were completely closed for the past four weeks which forced to reschedule the ”bachillerato” tests for the students graduating high school and the elimination of some contents.

In addition to the lost classes, thousands of students that receive their lunch at school did not have access to this meal.

The National Association of Educators stated “In relation to the sentence that declares the strike at the Ministry of Public Education illegal, we will proceed to present the corresponding appeal. The sentence is not firm”.

This Tuesday, the strike of employees at the National Learning Institute (INA) was also declared illegal.