By Katherine Stanley, Tico Times Staff

Ten years after the country’s Constitution was changed to require that at least 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) be spent on education each year, the government finally plans to comply with the mandate in 2007.

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias told reporters yesterday that next year’s budget, now under consideration in the Legislative Assembly, “guarantees education will have the total 6% for the first time.”

He cited this achievement, as well as a grant program for low-income high school students, among the major efforts of his brother President Oscar Arias’ administration to decrease poverty and address the widening gap between rich and poor.

The government’s failure to meet the 6% mark – funding has increased each year, with 5.6% of the GDP spent on education this year – has been a source of doubt about the viability of another Arias initiative under consideration in the assembly: increasing the constitutional mandate from 6% to 8% of the GDP. Asked how soon the government will be able to meet this new requirement if the assembly approves it, Rodrigo Arias said it wouldn’t be immediate.

Finding additional funds within government coffers and preparing the education system to effectively spend them will take some time, he said.

The 6% spending requirement, which includes funding for the Public Education Ministry (MEP), public universities and the National Learning Institute (INA), was established in July 1997 as an initiative of President José María Figueres (1994-1998).