Costa Rica: Scholarship students cleaning administrators’ homes

At least 10 students have been working in the homes of university leaders as a condition for their scholarship at Costa Rica’sUniversidad Creativa in San José, according to a complaint filed with the country’s higher education board, CONESUP.

The students were asked to wash clothes, care for children, prepare dinners and buy food. Completing at least 18 hours each week allows them to maintain their scholarship at the private university, according to the complaint filed last month.

Directors justified the practice, saying that the students had “signed a commitment to perform miscellaneous functions” and had requested this work over other, administrative assignments.

“We have 107 scholarship students performing various tasks…[and] it fills us with pride to see students requesting scholarships to achieve their education goals,” Oscar Romero, assistant director of the university, wrote in a statement.

“We haven’t viewed [the aforementioned] work as degrading, nor will we, because we are convinced that it’s as honourable and dignified as any other.”

But the complaint filed before the higher education board set off a firestorm of editorials, emails and angry comments as university students and administrators at other institutions denounced the work as ‘slave labour’ and ‘inappropriate’.

“What an abuse of the most vulnerable!” said a commentator, Joha Hidalgo, on one of the dozens of resulting Facebook threads. “It’s humiliating and an embarrassment.”

Writing under the name Anna Murillo Varela, another comment read: “This is an injustice and shows insolence on the part of the university. These are young people with a lot of talent and they don’t deserve this type of treatment.”

The higher education board recently ordered the practice of using students as domestics to be stopped and announced further investigation into the situation.

In a statement, Director Evelyn Chen Quesada said: “CONESUP considers this practice entirely reproachable. A scholarship system should never require a student to perform personal services for the officials or authorities of the university granting the scholarship.”

According to Radio Reloj, a local radio station that broke the story, many of the students performing the work were too ashamed to mention it to peers or family. At least two students left the university as a result of their scholarship assignment.

Some defended the university, saying that students could have elected not to do the work. Others said that university education isn’t free, and if these students want to advance, they may have to take on menial jobs.

On one of the online threads, Alfredo Pizzaro said students should realise that education comes at a cost and they are getting far more with the scholarship than had they simply been carrying out domestic work.

“The fact that the owners of the private university are providing education scholarships as opposed to work in their houses shows good faith. They are not obligated to give scholarships to anyone.”

Following the outcry, the university agreed to “restructure the scholarship programme” and ensure that its terms remain very clear to the students requesting financial assistance. Chen said the investigation into the situation remains ongoing.

The Universidad Creativa, which is based in San José, was founded 16 years ago with 15 majors, ranging from graphic design to photography, design and fashion. The average cost of a quarter is US$190 to US$450, depending on the chosen career path.


Original source here.