In Search of Brighter Days with Night High Schools in Costa Rica

Night schools are a critical and valuable educational option offered to students around the world and yet information asymmetry exists in the role they play in the social, cultural, educational, and emotional development of the students who attend it. Night schools are aimed at adults who did not have the opportunity to attend high school at an earlier age. These adults are from low-income backgrounds including single mothers who often work during the day picking coffee, cleaning houses, selling their wares in fruit stands, or are employed in various factory jobs. During the evening, they attend Nigh School as a means of gaining literacy skills and bettering their lives.

Hania Morales Arroyo and Natalia Ramirez-Casalvolone, two experienced teachers from Colegio Nocturno de Naranjo of Costa Rica talk about the particularities of the student population, academics, and her experience teaching English at the school.