Most families who come to us in Costa Rica are asking one question and would be better served by asking two. The first is what most people ask: which international curriculum. The second, which almost nobody raises, is how their child will hold a Costa Rican qualification if they need one — and Costa Rica has a state answer to that which is genuinely good and almost entirely unmarketed. This article is about running both, because for a meaningful number of families here that is the right plan.
What the state route gives you
The MEP, through the Dirección de Gestión y Evaluación de la Calidad, administers Educación Abierta. Educación Diversificada a Distancia serves youth and adults who have completed the ninth grade of Educación General Básica; Bachillerato por Madurez Suficiente serves people over 18, with exceptions, who did not complete their studies in the traditional system. The important sentence is this: both award diplomas with the same academic and legal value as the traditional bachillerato. That is not a consolation certificate. And El Maestro en Casa, a formal open offering, includes a route for students under 18 but over 15 leading to the Bachiller en Educación Media through comprehensive and final examinations across six subjects.
What it does not give you
An internationally examined qualification. A Costa Rican bachillerato — by any route — is assessed by foreign universities through equivalence procedures, whereas Cambridge A-Levels are read natively by UK admissions through UCAS and directly by American, Canadian and Spanish institutions. For a family whose child will study in Costa Rica, the state route may be all they need. For the large expatriate and internationally mobile population here, and for Costa Rican families aiming abroad, it answers only half the question.
Why running both is often the right answer
Because the two records do different work and neither substitutes for the other. The state route secures domestic standing and addresses the admissions risk that comes with being educated outside the accepted system. The Cambridge or IB record travels. A student who holds both is in a materially stronger position than one who holds either, and the workload overlap is heavier than people expect — mathematics and the sciences carry across, and the genuine additional effort concentrates in Español, Estudios Sociales and Educación Cívica. We do not administer the MEP side. We teach the international side and plan our calendar around whichever Costa Rican route a family is following.
The timezone, which I have to be honest about
We teach from Nairobi, nine hours ahead of Costa Rica — tied with Mexico as the widest gap in our coverage. That means classes are available across the day — morning, after-school or evening — because we run two teaching teams in different time zones. A seven o’clock class in San José is four in the afternoon for our teachers, which works. Anything later in the Costa Rican day does not. Families whose child is in a full-day school should talk to us before enrolling so we can be realistic about which subjects and days are possible, and I would rather have that conversation at enquiry than in March.
And where the regions make the case for themselves
Guanacaste has one of the fastest-growing international resident populations in Central America and almost no matching schooling. Limón handles most of the country’s trade three hours from the Central Valley. The Central Pacific corridor around Manuel Antonio has a settled international community and nothing local. And the Heredia free-zone corridor employs internationally recruited engineers whose schools are priced by corporate relocation budgets. In each, we are not competing with a campus — we are reaching where campuses are not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the state route give a real qualification?+
Yes. Educación Abierta’s programmes award diplomas with the same academic and legal value as the traditional bachillerato, and El Maestro en Casa includes a route for students over 15 leading to the Bachiller en Educación Media.
Do you administer those examinations?+
No. They are MEP examinations administered by the ministry through the DGEC. We teach Cambridge, Edexcel, IB and AP and plan our calendar around whichever Costa Rican route you follow.
Should we do both?+
For many families here, yes — the state route secures domestic standing and addresses the admissions risk, while the Cambridge or IB record travels. The overlap in mathematics and the sciences means the combined load is lighter than it sounds.
Nine hours — how does the timetable work?+
Morning classes only. A seven o’clock Costa Rican class is four in the afternoon for one team, and later slots are covered by the other. Full-day school families should talk to us before enrolling.
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