A couple hundred teachers took to the streets of San José yesterday to demand that the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) pay them their salaries and fill their schedules. They also voiced their opposition to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) during the protest, organized by the High-School Teachers' Association (APSE).
“The great majority of these teachers haven't been paid fairly,” said Jonathan Varela, a teacher who traveled from Upala, near the northern border, to join in the protest. Varela said he has only received part of the salary owed to him since the school year started in February.
Sporting APSE T-shirts, the teachers began at the ministry's headquarters and snaked through downtown streets until it began to rain.
Public Education Vice-Minister Silvia Víquez said that although “administrative problems” at both the ministry's headquarters and at schools caused delays in salary payments at the beginning of the school year, but that all but a few of these payments are now up to date.
The teachers also complained that their schedules are not full and that classroom hours are given to interim teachers instead of those with years of experience.
Víquez said the ministry is working on a bill that would increase the number of hours each teacher can take on, but that until then their hours cannot be increased.
The teachers also voiced their opposition to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), shouting that a referendum vote to be held on the trade pact is a “trick” thought up by its supporters.
Víquez said that because the turnout to the protests was relatively small, few students were affected by their absence in the classroom. |
| 
| Exchange Rates
