– Researchers and teachers throughout the country are developing a tool to prevent, detect and eradicate racist practices in Costa Rica’s classrooms.

An initiative called “Racial-Discrimination-Free Educational Centers,” is under development with workshops being held in the country’s different provinces with over 200 teachers to gather input on the cirruclum and discuss its importance.

The effort is being spearheaded by Rina Cáceres Gómez, coordinator of the African Studies Department at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and aims to “build an inclusive citizenship that, at this time of globalization, is open to the world and capable of recognizing the value of cultural diversity.”

In the workshops, educators will share experiences and collaborate in the formulation of actions to address racism. This will allow the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) to create a formal anti-racism instrument to be implemented at the beginning of the 2018 academic year, said the MEP.

Anger Smith Castro, national advisor to the MEP’s Department of Intercultural Education, said that despite efforts currently being made in both curricular and extracurricular content, discriminatory acts continue to be evident in different educational centers.

“We know that discriminatory practices persist in the classroom, there is a structural racism in the unconscious, and it comes up on everyday issues like haircuts. or generates discrimination based on students’ features,” said the official.

The MEP says that skin color and place of origin continue to generate comments and racist attitudes and practices against different social groups, mainly towards children and youth of Afro-Caribbean and mestizo origin.

“Even in the texts used there are social classifications that emphasize skin tone as a cultural marker, in addition to a national and international context where certain racial features and place of origin are also markers of criminalization,” explained Smith Castro.

“With this initiative we want to promote the construction of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society, based on respect for and recognition of human rights,” he concluded.

Also participating in the project are the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Ombudsman’s Office and the College of Graduates and Teachers (Colypro).