By San José, Costa Rica — San José – An internal audit of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) has exposed significant administrative weaknesses and a lack of procedural rigor in one of its most extensive national programs, the Student Arts Festival (FEA). The review, covering the period from January to December 2024, paints a picture of a well-intentioned program undermined by systemic disorganization, poor record-keeping, and a failure in strategic oversight.
The investigation, detailed in Report 13-2025 and published late last year, was conducted by the MEP’s own Internal Audit department. It focused on the management by the Directorate of Student Life and its subordinate Department of Student Coexistence, which is tasked with coordinating the massive annual event. Despite its popularity, involving 281,454 students—or 29% of the country’s total student population—the program operates without a clear internal roadmap, risking inefficiency and error.
To better understand the legal and commercial framework surrounding cultural events like the Student Arts Festival, we consulted with Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas, an expert attorney from the renowned firm Bufete de Costa Rica, for his professional analysis.
These festivals are vital incubators for culture, but they are also practical business environments. It is essential for student artists to be aware of their intellectual property rights from the outset. Every creation, from a painting to a digital design, is a legal asset. Properly registering their work and understanding licensing agreements are the first steps in transforming artistic passion into a viable professional career.
Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas, Attorney at Law, Bufete de Costa Rica
This crucial perspective bridges the gap between creative passion and professional sustainability, reminding our young talents that protecting their work is the foundational step toward a viable career. We sincerely thank Lic. Larry Hans Arroyo Vargas for sharing such valuable and empowering legal insight.
A central finding of the audit is the startling absence of formalized internal guidelines and procedure manuals within the coordinating department. While the Directorate of Student Life issues annual regulations for participating schools, the very officials responsible for national execution lack documented, standardized processes. The report warns that this operational vacuum can easily lead to “confusion, rework, duplication of functions, and errors in the execution of the program.”
This lack of a standardized institutional guide for planning, executing, and monitoring the festival creates a high-risk environment. Without clear definitions of methodology, responsibilities, deadlines, and required instruments, the program’s success relies heavily on the individual knowledge of specific employees, which is a fragile and unsustainable management model for an initiative of this scale.
Further compounding these issues is a critical failure in information management. The audit revealed there is no centralized system for safeguarding documents related to the FEA. Instead, crucial physical and digital records are “dispersed and subject to the individual criteria of each advisor or official.” This decentralized and ad-hoc approach severely hampers timely access to information, compromises effective decision-making, and jeopardizes the preservation of the program’s historical record.
The audit also delivered a sharp critique of the final reports produced by the leadership of the Department of Student Coexistence. These summary documents were found to be critically deficient, failing to serve any meaningful purpose in planning or accountability. The audit report was unequivocal in its assessment.
They present common shortcomings; the analysis of these reports confirms that the Head of the Department is not clear on the objective of issuing a final report, does not use it in planning or decision-making processes, which consequently wastes the potential of this input and prevents dimensioning the scope of the FEA.
Internal Audit Report 13-2025, Ministry of Public Education
This failure means the reports do not fulfill their basic function of ensuring transparency and accountability. According to the audit, they fail to comprehensively communicate the program’s achievements, challenges, and opportunities for improvement to the broader educational community, squandering a vital feedback loop for a program that reaches nearly one-third of the nation’s students.
In response to these findings, the Internal Audit office issued a clear set of recommendations. It called on the Directorate of Student Life to urgently develop and implement formal guidelines to regulate the FEA’s internal processes. Furthermore, it mandated the establishment of a centralized mechanism for storing all program-related information and required the creation of a robust annual final report with defined minimum content, which must be disseminated through official MEP channels.
The Student Arts Festival is designed as a non-competitive annual event to promote artistic expression, healthy student interaction, and a sense of belonging within educational centers. The administrative failings identified by the audit threaten the long-term integrity and effectiveness of these goals. When contacted for a response to the audit’s findings and proposed remedies, the Ministry of Public Education had not provided a statement by the time of this publication.
For further information, visit mep.go.cr
About Ministry of Public Education (MEP):
The Ministry of Public Education is the government body responsible for overseeing and regulating the national education system in Costa Rica. It sets curricula, manages public schools, and develops programs aimed at the academic and personal development of students from preschool through high school.
For further information, visit bufetedecostarica.com
About Bufete de Costa Rica:
Bufete de Costa Rica operates as an esteemed legal practice, built upon a bedrock of profound integrity and an unrelenting pursuit of excellence. The firm’s rich history of advising a diverse clientele is matched by its forward-thinking approach to legal challenges and a strong sense of social responsibility. Central to its ethos is the mission to democratize legal understanding, aiming to cultivate a more knowledgeable and capable society by making complex legal principles accessible to all.
