In four weeks as a first-year student at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Caleb Emilio Mora Carvajal, 18 years old, he has faced various challenges that have forced him to work harder than usual. What happens, he attributes, in a certain part, to the weaknesses of the educational system, Well, he affirms that there are many skills that he did not learn at school.
Caleb’s experience is that of many new university students this 2026: private and public universities in Costa Rica revealed to The Nation that even this year they receive students who present large gaps in literacy, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematical Physics and English.
“I have done well in English, but through my own means. The school’s English is a little poor. Although Mathematics was one of the best, number one in class, I’m not one of the best now, Some topics are quite difficult for me and I feel that the intensity of the classes of up to four hours has cost me. We see too much matter,” confided Caleb Mora, a Baccalaureate and Bachelor’s student in Pure Mathematics at the University of Costa Rica.
The university student continued: “The school misbehaved me in such a way that a topic was seen in several classes“I feel like it has been the most complex.”
The young man, a graduate of the Barbacoas Technological Orientation College, in Puriscal, added that another challenge has been adapting to the density of the material seen in class, and learning soft skills for the group projects that he must carry out with his classmates.
“It is something complex for someone who leaves public school. I had to learn things as basic as doing simple tests on my own.”he added.
Adding to the challenges is how difficult it has been to understand university professors.
“They explain quickly as if one knew about the subject. I don’t know if I understand slowly. I have been forced to learn on my own. It has been a failure of the system because it has not taught me to learn skills but to memorize linesknowledge, formulas or results, I think that would be what has affected me the most,” Caleb said.
The student stated, however, that perhaps the situation would be more complex, however, in reading comprehension he has not faced so many difficulties because he reads for pleasure. He knows that those who do not have the habit of reading do have a hard time when they get to university, because they remember that at school, if anything, they assigned two-page readings.
“Memorization and simplicity are instilled in them”
Juan Valverde Sototeacher of Mathematical Physics, with 22 years of experience, narrates what is experienced in secondary school, because from school teachers detect the weaknesses with which students end up arriving at universities.
The teacher of a technical school and another academic school explains how students in their final years of high school They come to their classes with poor foundations in mathematics, subject that is key to the subject taught.
Their weakness in mathematics also affects the performance of students in the specialties taught in technical educational centers.
Also, it recognizes that students have deficiencies in reading comprehension and that this occurs, above all, because the habit of reading and understanding has not been instilled in them.
“And not to mention the logical part. In all subjects I have observed that memorization and ease are instilled in children. They memorize questionnaires and brochures and they are going to forget that,” explained the teacher.
Valverde regretted that a large part of the fact that students do not have well-developed skills, he believes that this is due, in part, to the work of many teachers who decide to “not complicate things.”
“They do not evaluate as it should be, they do not make rubrics, nor do the daily work and the vast majority pass. They are dragging deficiencies that have not been evaluated and arrive with delays,” stated the teacher, who believes that the weaknesses and gaps in the student body have appeared in the last 10 years.
In recent years, the disapproval of schoolchildren has fallen in Costa Rica.
In the seven years between 2010 and 2017, on average, those left behind represented 19.4% of those enrolled. The figure drops to 5.96% on average for the years between 2018 and 2023.
Of the 13 years under study, provided by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), the maximum value was presented in 2010 with 22% failed, while 2020 has the lowest record with 2.3%.
