Our Work in Costa Rica

A child is more likely to become a reader when books are visible, accessible, and part of everyday life. In Costa Rica, The Library Project establishes Reading Rooms and Reading Corners that bring books into the places where children learn and spend their time. Book Donations help schools and community centers strengthen collections and provide children with more choices about what they read.

Literacy Programs help children build the skills needed to understand and engage with those books. At the same time, Training & Support gives educators and community partners additional tools for encouraging reading, supporting comprehension, and responding to different learning needs.

Through Capacity Building, we also support local nonprofit organizations working to improve literacy and education. Strengthening these organizations helps ensure that effective programs can continue to develop within the communities they know best.

Literacy in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has achieved high levels of school participation and adult literacy, but children’s learning outcomes reveal a different challenge. In the newly released PISA 2025 results, only 53 percent of Costa Rican 15-year-olds reached the baseline level of proficiency in reading. Nearly half, therefore, performed below the level at which students are expected to identify the main idea of a moderately long text, locate information, and reflect on its purpose.

Challenges begin earlier. UNICEF data indicate that approximately 75 percent of children reached minimum reading proficiency in Grades 2 or 3, but only 54 percent did so by the end of primary school in the most recent internationally comparable primary assessment.

Learning opportunities are also unequal. Recent World Bank analysis identifies greater challenges among students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and those living in rural areas, as well as Indigenous, migrant, and refugee students. A major education initiative launched with the Costa Rican government specifically prioritizes foundational reading and comprehension and includes targeted support for approximately 50,000 Indigenous, migrant, and refugee students.

The Library Project’s Reading Rooms, Reading Corners, Book Donations, Literacy Programs, Training & Support, and Capacity Building contribute to this broader effort by strengthening the environments in which children learn to read.