Costa Rica is a peaceful Central American country fronting both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has almost 4 million residents, a stable democratic government, no army, and is host to Central America 's largest hi-tech community, including the Latin American Headquarters of Microsoft and one of Intel 's most modern chip fabrication plants. Many major US high-tech corporations maintain offices or branches in Costa Rica including IBM, Oracle, Dell, Apple, Compaq, Cisco, and others. Literacy (nearly 95%), English language and computer usage are the highest in Latin America. Costa Rica has the highest United Nations Human Development Index among all developing countries. With the abolishment of the army in 1948, the government has been able to give high priority to the welfare of its people. Costa Rica 's democratic tradition and physical stability has created a high standard of living by focusing on health and education of the population. Therefore, not only has the country been able to develop internally, it also has become an attractive location for foreign companies seeking to establish operations.
Therefore, the government has embarked on an aggressive strategy to upgrade the educational system to continue economic development in the high technology areas. According to the dean of the Instituto Technologico de Costa Rica, the country 's foremost science and engineering university, the country must find a way to train people for an estimated 10,000 high-tech jobs in every skill level over the next five years.
Education Initiatives o Government promotes a highly skilled and trained workforce through education and training mandates. o Technical and education development projects continue to be part of the goal of transforming Costa Rica into the high technology hub of Latin America. o Curricula are being updated with teachings in new areas for example, in semiconductors. o A nationwide network of computer labs in high schools and