Monday, February 10, is back to school in Costa Rica, as public schools start their 2014 school calendar that runs to December.
The Ombudsman office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) said today that it will monitor the start of the school year, sending inspectors to verify that grade schools and colleges have adequate conditions for lessons, including security, teachers and food for students.
Typically, at the start of every school year the Ministerio de Educación Pública (MEP) experiences problems with teacher staffing at schools, in particular schools in remote areas.
The Defensoria is also asking parents to take an active role and report problems at their local schools.
In addition, the advocacy of the people will be delivering material to parents and owners of student transport about safey issues.
Parents can visit the Defensoria website at : www.dhr.go.cr/ or send an email to defensoria@dhr.go.cr or call 4000-8500 / 800-258-7474 with any concerns.