The education in Costa Rica is very important for the country and its people. Throughout all Latin America education is a necessity but there is no other country that contributes with such a great part of its gross internal product (capital) to the education like Costa Rica.

It invests more money in the education that in its police force.

Many of the old leaders, like first President Jose Maria Castro Madríz, were teachers and they made a big effort in supporting this area.

In 1869, Costa Rica got to be one of the first nations in the world in making education gratuitous and obligatory. The cost is subsidized by the government (through taxes).During the pasts twenty years, the educational level has experienced significant progress.

One of these is that, at the moment, 93% of the population can read and write. There is a computer in each school and English classes are offered in them. There are hundreds of libraries in the country.

For the adults in the rural places, the libraries represent good opportunities to continue their education. In spite of this, Costa Rica needs to construct more libraries and has an urgency to have more books and money to support them.

Primary and Secondary schools and the centers of higher education are located in all the cities. The students do not have to pay for public education. The Ministry of Public Education determines the educative policies. In the primary schools there are six degrees and in high schools there are five degrees.

Every scholastic year is divided in three trimesters and finals come at the end of each year (200 school days), which the students must pass to be able to continue. In order to receive the high school diploma they must pass the Baccalaureate tests.

These examinations are necessary to attend a university. Also, there are technical and farming schools, as well as nocturnal education and for adults. In addition to the public education, Costa Rica has numerous schools and private schools, where the education is bilingual and trilingual. The country counts on four state universities and approximately 54 private universities, in addition to institutes and technician and technological.

The University of Costa Rica is considered the greatest and oldest. It has almost thirty five thousand students registered every year. Other universities are the National University in Heredia, the Technological Institute of Costa Rica in Cartago and the State University at a Distance.