On June 18th, Tablab was honored to receive three officials from the Costa Rican Ministry of Education´s (MEP) Department of Technological Resources, including the Director of the Department: Karla Salguero Moya, Educational Advisor: Ana Virginia Quesada, and head of Research, Development and Implementation: Kattia Fallas.
The visit began over coffee at Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat, where World Leadership Foundation Board Member and Costa Rican Tablab Teacher Trainer, Meghan Casey, is based, and then the committee went to visit la Lucha Elementary School and el Liceo el Paraiso where Tablab is currently working, to see Tablab in operation and also to explore common goals and visions and lay the groundwork for an official partnership Tablab - MEP.
Costa Rica´s Ministry of Education´s Educational Policy is very forward thinking. They aim to make education relevant for the XXI century, making education the axis of sustainable development while closing the immense gap between the quality of education received by students in urban and rural areas and reducing the inequality between marginalized and privileged urban schools in their aim to form the human resources necessary to increase Costa Rica´s competency and likelihood of success in todays international markets. But they are conscious not to leave behind their very important traditional values, that have been disappearing with time, values that they are committed to recovering and strengthening, along with technical and scientific education and sports and culture, to stimulate the formation of more integral graduates. Maybe most important is their objective to raise awareness in each individual student, about the commitment they have with future generations and ensuring sustainable economic and social development in harmony with nature and the environment in general. (see: http://www.mep.go.cr/politica-educativa for more information).
The ladies from the Costa Rican Ministry of Education´s Department of Technological Resources, are especially forward thinking and on the vanguardia of XXI century education. They are eager to bring together resources and efforts already at work in the area to foster collaboration and improvement in education and access to technology and teacher training. They believe in a student centered, technology facilitated, integral sharing and learning and they are working hard to make that vision come to reality, focussing especially on marginalized rural schools, and Sarapiqui is one of their top priority areas.
World Leadership Foundation and Tablab have also focussed their efforts on Sarapiqui, one of Costa Rica´s richest counties, in terms of biological diversity and one of the poorest counties in the country, economically speaking. Multinational conglomerates like Chiquita Dole offer the majority of the jobs in the area on their large scale banana and pineapple crops, with little job security, dangerous working conditions and poor pay, being the norm for the workers of the area. And while the MEP has a great vision and objectives, the gap is very large between privileged urban schools and marginalized rural schools, with resources, and teacher training severely lacking in all of the local rural public schools.
The Costa Rican Ministry of Education´s Department of Technological Resources recognize the challenge and they know they cannot work in isolation which is why they are developing a network of actors, from the private and public sector, national and international, to help address the challenges and work together to improve the quality of education in rural Costa Rica. As a result of this initiative, and after seeing the Tablab in use and speaking with the principals, teachers and students involved, MEP and Tablab are working together on formulating an official partnership in an effort to expand Tablab and its benefits to more students and schools in Sarapiqui.
