The National Program of Educational Informatics of the Ministry of Public Education and the Omar Dengo Foundation is an initiative promoted by the Costa Rican Government since 1988 to introduce digital technologies to the public education system. Its purpose is to foster the smart appropriation of digital technologies by Costa Rican student populations to allow students develop the capabilities required to learn and fully participate in the 21st century. The main beneficiaries of the Program are students and teachers of preschool, primary and secondary education levels from 3,383 public schools across the country. As of September 2018, the Program covers 88.7% of the student body in the Basic General Education levels and is currently working to reach a 100% coverage goal by 2021. In 30 years of existence, the Program has become a State policy and a key component of the country’s educational policy.

The Program is one of the longest-standing initiatives to introduce digital technologies in education in the Latin American region. It is also one of the most particular initiatives as a result of its educational proposal and its institutional design. Some of its distinctive features are the moment in history of its inception, the public-private partnership setup through which it is managed, the Program´s vision of using technologies to develop high-level capabilities in persons, and the decision of starting with preschool and primary school students.

http://www.fod.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=160

• Costa Rica

• Youth
• Indigenous and nomadic peoples
• Remote and rural communities

PRONIE MEP-FOD was the first national educational technology program launched in Latin America and one of the first in developing countries. As such, FOD has been asked and has provided multiple consultations and advisory services to governments, ministries of education, foundations and multilateral and bilateral agencies in the region interested in learning about its performance and application in other countries. The program as a whole has not been directly replicated though. In terms of PRONIE MEP-FOD´s it Educational Informatics Lab modality and its innovative pedagogical proposal of applying the project-based learning approach and the promotion of a computational thinking based curriculum has certainly replicability conditions in other educational systems in both developed and developing countries.

PRONIE MEP-FOD operational and institutional model has proven key for its existence and sustained growth throughout the years. The Program operates thanks to a public-private partnership between the Omar Dengo Foundation (FOD) and the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica (MEP). FOD is a nonprofit organization created in 1987 to take on the organizational and conceptual design, the search for financing, and the operation of the Program, in coordination with MEP. The purpose of this institutional arrangement was to provide agility to the initiative’s management and to favor its long-term sustainability. The Program´s financial sustainability is based in its long-term achievements and continuous yearly inclusions in MEP´s publicly funded budget, and FOD´s robust resource mobilization efforts with the support of many multi-sectorial partners that allow for further research and development investments into the Program. The program is favored with legislation enacted in 2001 (Law 8207) that decreed the public utility of the Program and authorizes it to receive funds from all government entities which is indeed a condition that provides additional sustainability conditions independently of the changes in governments.

The Program has also based its long-term sustainability in successfully offering the country a proposal that combines the elements required to promote educational policies with the potential of driving change. It offers an educational proposal with solid conceptual and methodological foundations, aimed at attaining clearly specified learning outcomes in the fields in which it has been assigned responsibilities for its implementation. The Program also articulates and manages the required resources such as professional development of teachers, infrastructure and equipment, educational resources and platforms, teachers and students guidance to adequately manage their projects inside schools. and provides systematic assessment and monitoring mechanisms that allow for their continuous improvement.

The PRONIE MEP-FOD purpose is in line with WSIS purposes and values to build a people-centered, inclusive and development oriented Information society. PRONIE MEP-FOD is aligned with the type of initiatives that WSIS principle on Capacity Building promotes and encourages. In the PRONIE MEP-FOD, we understand that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have an immense impact on virtually all aspects of our lives. However, we make an effort to promote the appropriation of these digital technologies in educational programs in public schools as part of a deliberative approach to see them in their ability to function as tools that amplify a person’s capacity to think and create. In line with WSIS values, the PRONIE MEP-FOD shares the aspiration to use ICTs as tools in the search for higher quality and more equitable educational opportunities for the Costa Rican population. As per WSIS values, PRONIE MEP-FOD fully recognizes that education, knowledge, information and communication are at the core of human progress. We promote these values with our beneficiaries. The initiative of the PRONIE MEP-FOD are meant to bridge the digital and cognitive divide in our communities throughout the country. Our program has been responsible for introducing technology in the last 30 years to thousands of communities in both marginalized urban and rural areas, which is completely aligned with WSIS principles in closing the digital, and opportunities divides in countries. The PRONIE MEP-FOD is an example of a successful public-private partnership in the area of capacity building and appropriation of digital technologies in Costa Rica. PRONIE MEP-FOD makes a great effort with its partners and beneficiaries to let them know that its accomplishments and impact can only be possible through a partnership where in the role of government, represented by the Ministry of Public Education, and a long list of stakeholders is critical. This believe is in line with the values that WSIS promotes in this regard.