The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 22, 2004

GLOBAL march: Students from Jardín de Niños Maternal Montessoriano and seven other schools marched yesterday from the Ministry of Education building in downtown San José to the Children’s Museum demanding an increased commitment to education as part of the worldwide celebration of Education for All Week.
Tico Times/Jeffrey Arguedas

Country’s Students March to
Demand Education for All
Approximately 300 elementary and high-school students put their civics lessons to use yesterday when they marched through downtown San José demanding improved access to quality education.
(Click for more)

April 22

Workshop to Reduce Stress
Learn the Ishayas Techniques to reduce stress, 6:30 p.m. at Librería Universal in Zapote, southeast of San José. Info: 240-3478, 383-8883, ana_leda2012@yahoo.com

Concert by Four
Bernardo Quesada, the popular singer and musician, performs tonight with his group “Los 4,” pop, ballads, rock and other musical genres, 10 p.m. at the Jazz Café in San Pedro, east of San José. Info: 253-8933.

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Country’s Students March to
Demand Education for All
By Rebecca Kimitch
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

Approximately 300 elementary and high-school students put their civics lessons to use yesterday when they marched through downtown San José demanding improved access to quality education.

The students ended at the Children’s Museum and delivered a letter to Education Minister Manuel Bolaños requesting new schools, improved handicap accessibility and sign-language programs, better food service and more security in schools.

Beyond their own needs, students also marched for access to education for children around the world.

“We need more equality (in education); there are places where they say education is available, but the reality is that for economic reasons, kids cannot go to school,” said 15-year Verónica Vega, a student at Calle Blancos Technical High School, one of eight schools that participated in the march.

The activity was held in honor of Education for All Week, celebrated in more than 100 countries and sponsored by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). From Cambodia to Peru, students around the world demanded that governments make an increased commitment to education, according to UNESCO.

The week commemorates the four-year anniversary of the UNESCO World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, at which 164 countries committed to making education accessible to the 100 million children throughout the world who are not currently in school, by the year 2015.

After receiving the letter, Bolaños announced Costa Rica’s Plan of Action to achieve the country’s own goals made in Dakar. These include having half of 4- and 5-year olds in preschool by 2006 and 73% by 2015; guaranteeing that 77% of high-school students are involved in education services by 2006 and 89% by 2015; and achieving 100% attention to special education students by 2015.

In the letter – also presented Tuesday to the Legislative Assembly and Ombudsman’s Office – students recognized the efforts Costa Rica has made regarding education, and wrote “it has not been in vain.”

“It was very important that the letter was written by the students themselves, that it came from their ideas,” said Milagro Mora, who sponsored the process that involved approximately 30 students last week. “They were very passionate and jumped up and shouted out their ideas for how to improve the quality of education.”

The march allowed students to share their message with adults who did not receive the letter, according to 16-year-old student Priscilla Jiménez, also a student at the Calle Blancos high school.

“It’s a way to make adults aware that we too have the right to share our opinions,” she said.

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President-Elect of El Salvador Supports
Central American Consensus for OAS

During a visit to San José yesterday, Elías Antonio “Tony” Saca, El Salvador’s President-elect who will be sworn in on June 1, said he would support a Central American consensus in favor of the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Only one candidate is officially running for the post, former Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002), who has secured the pledged support of 32 of the 34 member countries of the OAS. The only countries he lacks support from are El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Initially, outgoing Salvadoran President Francisco Flores had intended to run for the post. Last month, however, he announced he would not run.

“We need to make an effort in June (when the next head of the OAS will be elected) to vote together as Central Americans,” Saca said following a meeting with Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco. “My opinion about this is that we must have a Central American OAS Secretary ... and we must make sure that Central America triumphs in June.”

When asked about his country’s vote, he responded “along with all of Central America, I will back the Central American who has the consensus at that moment.”

Saca did not go as far as saying he would endorse Rodríguez once he was sworn in as president.

“On June 1, I will be the President of El Salvador,” he said. “By June 2, I will tell you who I will give my vote to.”

Costa Rica appears to have given up on Nicaraguan support for ex-President Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002) in his bid to become Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), rather than capitulate to Nicaragua’s conditions to resolve immigration and border dispute issues in exchange for its support of the Tico candidate (TT Daily Page, April 19).

Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar sent a letter to that effect Tuesday to the Nicaraguan Embassy in San José to forward to Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister, Norman Caldera. Tovar told the Nicaraguan government to consider its support for Rodríguez “not delivered” (TT Daily Page, April 21).
-AFP

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Poll Takes Third in 200-Meter Open,
11 Worldwide Ranking

In the last laps of her debut performance following a two-year suspension, Costa Rica’s only Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Claudia Poll finished mere tenths of a second behind first place in the final race of a three-day competition in Dunkerque, France.

Poll finished the 200-meter open for foreigners yesterday in second place with a time of 1:59.85 on the clock, nearly head to head with Melanie Marshall of Great Britain, who took first place with 1:59.46.

Her time landed her third place overall in the competition, succeeded by the French Solenne Figues who finished in 1:58.36 and by Marshall. She now holds the 11th spot in the world ranking for that race.

The final races were divided between foreigners, of which eight, including Poll, competed, and French swimmers, who competed among themselves for places on their country’s Olympic team.

The French Open is Poll’s first competition since the end of a two-year ban from public competition imposed after she tested positive for an anabolic steroid. Poll maintains her innocence and has filed a case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and brought a case against the laboratory in Montreal that conducted the steroid test (TT, April 16).

In a Sunday interview with AFP wire service, Poll said she trained the entire two years of her suspension (TT Daily Page, April 19).

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Wednesday October 26, 2005