The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

are some of the problems that have placed the cantonsunder study among the lowest in Costa Rica in terms ofconditions for receiving education.Together with institutional inadequacy, poverty is a majorfactor that affects the education of children. For many parents,keeping children at school can become a considerableburden. In general, parents are unable to buy schoolmaterials, uniforms and other items. Hunger too is a seriousobstacle.Poverty in families results in the need for children to work,either in production activities or in their own homes. Inthis context, providing for the home or helping their parentsin household work takes priority over education.Many of the phenomena that influence the rendering ofeducational services are also present in health services. Interms of coverage, there is geographic and demographicdistribution of health centres. However, the quality andavailability of service are not the best at many of thesecentres.As with education, many health centres serve communitieswhere roads are poor, public transportation inadequateand geographic and climatic difficulties limit accessby the population to these centres. Actions that attemptto counter this situation have had limited impact.In many communities the health centres only operate oneday a week or even one day every two weeks. This meansthat sick children may spend several days without treatment.The inadequacy of infrastructure in many communitiesalso directly affects health. One important instance is thataccess to potable water is not always ensured.Poverty also works against many families in their access tohealth services. Reaching the closest health centre can involvetremendous effort in terms of transportation andfood. Likewise, spending a day to go to the health centremeans missing one day’s work. Often this means that therewill be no wages to devote to eating on that day.Finally, the capacity is saturated because health centresalso serve immigrants, especially Nicaraguans, who are irregularresidents of the area and who are not registeredin the health system.In terms of recreation, one can assert that, except for thelarger communities, the population has limited access torecreational spaces such as sports facilities and public libraries.Most of the recreational activities available to children revolvearound school facilities, with all the limitations thateducational services face.Notes1La Nación (daily newspaper), “Los del centro vivenmejor” [Those in the Central Region live better], basedon the book Asimetrías económicas, sociales y políticas deCosta Rica, November 3, 2003.2Translator’s note—The school system in Costa Rica ismade up of four “cycles” with a total of 11 grades.Primary school includes cycles I and II (grades 1–6);secondary school includes cycle III (grades 7–9) andcycle IV (grades 10–11).3MEP, Indicadores de equidad de género: tercer informe[Gender equity indicators: Third report], July 2003.4La Nación, November 11, section “Viva”.5IPEC/ILO, Trabajo infantil y adolescente doméstico en CostaRica (2003), 38.6Ibid., 37.7Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social (Joint Institute for SocialAssistance).8“Informe revela abismo entre estudiantes” (Reportreveals gap between students), La Nación, November9.9ASIS, Upala Health Area.The main limitations that health centres face are the lackof medical equipment, the absence of specialists and thelack of medicines. All these factors mean that care is limitedto basic problems.The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision 69