Education unions in Costa Rica are organizing a national protest to defend the public education budget, in response to the perceived inadequate budget assigned for the year 2024. The protest, scheduled for October 25, is being coordinated by the Costa Rican Education Workers’ Union (SEC), as announced on social media. The total budget for the upcoming year, as reported by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), is ¢2,601,664.0 million, aimed at serving an estimated 896,820 students.

Many organizations will express their discontent with the government autonomously and defend the Social State of Law, which they believe is being dismantled. The protest will not only be centralized in San José; many individuals and social sectors will also gather in various parts of the country, exercising their human right to protest. The SEC president, Gilberth Díaz, mentioned that the ongoing education crisis has not been adequately addressed by the current government, which is why there will be a unified national march towards the Presidential House by those in the GAM area.

The unions are advocating for the assignment of 8% of the GDP to the education budget, consistent with previous years, claiming that this amount has been decreasing since past administrations. They point out that not only has the 8% GDP for education not been met, but budgets since 2020 have also been reduced compared to previous years, contrary to the provisions of the transitional to the constitutional article 78. This trend seems to continue from 2023 to 2024, as stated in one of their social media posts.

A monitoring report by the General Comptroller of the Republic (CGR) highlights that the budget assigned for the next year is the lowest in the last decade relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). From 2015-2024, the MEP budget has, on average, represented 25.0% of the Republic’s Budget. However, this percentage significantly decreases to 20.6% for the year 2024.

Currently, the unions are holding various meetings to determine the starting location and time for the march, which is planned to occur in the coming weeks.