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04 Jan 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 04, 2006
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National Training Institute
Reports Banner Year
With demand for English and vocational training rising throughout the country, caused in part by increases in tourism and the presence of multinationals, the National Training Institute (INA), grew by leaps and bounds in 2005, INA President Róger Carvajal said yesterday. The institute celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
(Click for more)
Nicaraguan Police Officer Denies
Costa Rican Officer Kidnapped Him
Nicaraguan police officer Victoriano Castillo denied yesterday that Costa Rican officer Diego Ortiz kidnapped him, as charged by the Nicaraguan Prosecutor's Office.
(Click for more)
December Inflation
Registers at 1.01%
Costa Rica registered a monthly inflation of 1.01% in December.
(Click for more)
January 04
Summer Dance Workshops
Hosted by the National Dance Company, for children, adults, seniors, including physical conditioning, ballet, contemporary dance, tai chi, flamenco, hip-hop, jazz, break dancing, classes start Jan. 9, registration opens Jan. 4. Info: 257-4867, 223-3319.
Multisensory Coffee Currency Exhibit
Replicas of boletos de café (former currency of Costa Rica), coffee grains and plants, through March 2006, Museum of Forms, Spaces and Sounds, Av. 3, Ca. 21. Info: 243-4214.
Children's Museum Vacation Camp
Registration opened for the “ Vacaciones Felices,” for kids 5-13, which includes outdoor games, Internet, rallies, ecological and scientific explorations, meals, snacks, T-shirt, groups by age, Jan. 9-13, and Jan. 16-27, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Info: 258-4929, ext. 113, 114.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
National Training Institute
Reports Banner Year
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
With demand for English and vocational training rising throughout the country, caused in part by increases in tourism and the presence of multinationals, the National Training Institute (INA), grew by leaps and bounds in 2005, INA President Róger Carvajal said yesterday. The institute celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
At a special presentation at President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting, Carvajal announced that since its founding in 1965, the state-funded institute has served 2.33 million students – and of that group, 640,000, or 27.5%, studied at the institute after May 2002. In 2005 alone, the institute had 198,607 students, he said.
“We have a demand far above the offerings we had planned,” he said, explaining that with help from other institutions such as universities and the Public Education Ministry, the institute expanded its offerings throughout the year.
Much of the pressure to create new training programs for workers came from the private sector, according to Carvajal. One year ago, INA, in partnership with the Costa Rican Investment Board (CINDE) and businesses, began offering free, intensive English classes in response to the booming industry of customer-service call centers here. Then, CINDE General Director Edna Camacho called the need for English classes “gigantic” (TT, Jan. 28, 2005), and the sector grew still more throughout 2005 as several multinationals expanded their Costa Rican operations.
According to Carvajal, the overall goal of the institute is to help Costa Ricans enter the job market and achieve social mobility. Approximately 50% of the institute's students have not graduated from high school, and some of those received little or no schooling, he said.
An increasing percentage of INA's students are women – 54% in 2005.
“Women are working every day in a significant way to incorporate themselves into the world of work,” he said, adding that the predominance of women at the institute has been a growing trend for the past 10 years and extends throughout the organization's course offerings, from English to computer training.
Plans for 2006 include the development of a Center for Productive and Competitive Micro, Small and Medium Businesses; the ministries of public education, economy, and agriculture are collaborating in this effort. The institute also offers an ever-growing selection of classes to Costa Rica 's indigenous groups.
See this Friday's print or online pdf edition of The Tico Times for more on the National Training Institute.
Nicaraguan Police Officer Denies
Costa Rican Officer Kidnapped Him
Nicaraguan police officer Victoriano Castillo denied yesterday that Costa Rican officer Diego Ortiz kidnapped him, as charged by the Nicaraguan Prosecutor's Office.
Castillo told the daily La Nación, “there is no reason for Ortiz to stay in jail, removed from his family.”
Ortiz was arrested Sept. 1, 2005, for allegedly farming corn on Nicaraguan soil and was later charged with kidnapping Castillo.
However, according to Castillo, Ortiz was not involved in his kidnapping last Aug. 31 in Mexico de Upala, near the Nicaraguan border.
“If I'm allowed to be held to justice in my country, I would have no problem reiterating what I have said,” declared Castillo, a Nicaraguan police officer who is being investigated in Costa Rica for the alleged illegal detention of two Costa Rican agricultural workers on their country's soil and transporting them to Nicaragua (TT, Oct. 14, 2005).
“I've talked with him (Ortiz) over the telephone. He told me he was distressed about what has happened to both of us. We're waiting to be set free,” Castillo said.
Castillo regained his freedom in Costa Rica last December, but is prohibited from leaving the country while under investigation for the wrongful detention of the two workers. He is staying in the home of Costa Rican Red Cross worker Dagoberto Bazán Jiménez.
Castillo denies the charges against him, and said he is the “victim of a lie.” He claims he was notifying the two workers of their obligation to appear before the San Carlos, Nicaragua, police station. He produced copies of documents detailing the charges of fraud and theft of livestock being held against them, according to the daily La Nación.
Meanwhile, Costa Rican police officer Diego Ortiz also awaits a Feb. 16 trial in Nicaragua for his alleged kidnapping of Castillo. He was released on bail last Dec. 28, but is prohibited from leaving Nicaragua.
Diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and Nicaragua were wrought with tension last year, stemming from a dispute over navigation rights to the San Juan River, part of the border between the two countries. Costa Rica filed suit before the International Court of Justice in La Hague Sept. 19 of last year (TT, Oct. 14, 2005).
Tico Times and EFE reports
December Inflation
Registers at 1.01%
Costa Rica registered a monthly inflation of 1.01% in December.
Inflation for 2005 was 14.07%, the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC) reported, representing an increase from the inflation rates reported in 2004 (13.13%) and 2003 (9.87%). However, inflation in the month of December was lower than in December 2004 (1.11%) and 2003 (1.25%).
The annual increase surpassed the target inflation for 2005 set by the Central Bank in August, when it was raised from 10%, the goal set last January, to 12.7% (TT, Aug 5). Central Bank president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez has not yet announced the target rate for 2006, although he has said it will be lower than last year's result.
