Elementary instruction of both sexes is compulsory and at the expense of the Government.
The following data are obtained from the Minister of Public Instruction, Licentiate Ricardo Pacheco. In 1896 Costa Rica had 327 primary schools with 21,913 enrolled pupils, or 53 per cent. of all the children of school age, as can be seen in the following table:
| Number of Official Schools | Number of Pupils. | ||||||||||
| Boys. | Girls. | Mixed. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Per school. | Per teacher. | Per 100 Inhab- itants. | For each 100 children of school age. | |
| San José | 43 | 43 | 6 | 92 | 3,766 | 3,766 | 7,118 | 78.45 | 28.81 | 9.27 | 54.57 |
| Alajuela | 46 | 45 | 16 | 107 | 3,028 | 2,862 | 5,890 | 55.04 | 32.36 | 10.29 | 60.57 |
| Cartago | 25 | 24 | 1 | 50 | 1,817 | 1,475 | 3,292 | 65.84 | 24.75 | 8.66 | 51.07 |
| Heredia | 20 | 20 | 7 | 47 | 2,132 | 1,728 | 3,880 | 82.56 | 26.76 | 12.27 | 72.19 |
| Guanacaste | 11 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 649 | 513 | 1,162 | 55.33 | 21.92 | 5.79 | 34.09 |
| Puntarenas | 5 | 4 | — | 9 | 297 | 199 | 496 | 55.11 | 22.59 | 4.07 | 23.98 |
| Limon | — | — | 1 | 1 | 30 | 45 | 75 | 75.00 | 37.50 | 1.00 | 58.96 |
| 150 | 145 | 32 | 327 | 11,719 | 10,194 | 21,913 | 67.01 | 27.94 | 9.01 | 53. | |
This great number shows a marked predisposition of the people in favor of education. It is also a fact that Costa Rica holds the first place of all Latin American nations in regard to public instruction.
The number of school buildings is 215, besides 29 in process of construction and 50 projected. These 215 buildings are the property of the “Juntas de Educacion.” Besides these, 107 buildings are rented and 6 loaned. There are
| 92 | schools in | 48 | different localities | in the | Department of | San José. |
| 107 | ” | 67 | ” | ” | ” | Alajuela. |
| 50 | ” | 27 | ” | ” | ” | Cartago. |
| 47 | ” | 29 | ” | ” | ” | Heredia. |
| 21 | ” | 22 | ” | ” | ” | Guanacaste. |
| 9 | ” | 8 | ” | ” | ” | Puntarenas. |
| 1 | ” | 1 | ” | ” | ” | Limon. |
| 327 | schools in | 202 | different localities. |
Costa Rica has more teachers than soldiers. The number of the former reaches the figure of 784, of whom 337 are men and 447 women, distributed in the following way:
| Men. | Women. | Total. | Costa Ricans. | Yearly Salaries in Pesos. | |
| San José | 98 | 149 | 247 | 221 | 128,540 |
| Alajuela | 80 | 102 | 182 | 167 | 79,920 |
| Cartago | 59 | 74 | 133 | 126 | 58,020 |
| Heredia | 63 | 82 | 145 | 137 | 61,260 |
| Guanacaste | 30 | 23 | 53 | 45 | 25,680 |
| Puntarenas | 7 | 15 | 22 | 13 | 11,700 |
| Limon | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2,100 |
| 337 | 447 | 784 | 711 | 367,020 | |
Among the foreign teachers are:
| 38 | Spaniards, | 2 | Salvadorans, | 1 | Venezuelan, |
| 12 | Colombians, | 2 | Germans, | 1 | Frenchman, |
| 9 | Nicaraguans, | 1 | Honduran, | 1 | Englishman, |
| 2 | Guatemalans, | 1 | Mexican, | 1 | Italian. |