The Board of Nutritionists of Costa Rica has threatened Home Economics high school teachers with lawsuits if they dare defy a new pilot program that favors the teaching of personal finance instead of cooking and household chores. According to a news report by Ana Amenabar of Diario Extra, the Association of Secondary School Teachers (APSE in Spanish) has filed an emergency motion for relief before the Administrative Affairs Tribunal, a high court in Costa Rica, to allow Home Economics educators to continue teaching subject matter related to nutrition.

Home Economics in Costa Rica is traditionally imparted to students in grades 7^th to 9^th. The curriculum includes various topics that are intrinsic to adolescent development, such as self-esteem, interpersonal and romantic relationships, gender equality, conflict resolution, and more. Home Economics also gets down to basics and teaches students culinary skills, budgeting for the household, sustainable cleaning methods, and even more advanced topics like preparing menus for relatives or people in their household who live with diabetes. That is where the Board of Nutritionists of Costa Rica is drawing the line.

The court battle has been made even more complicated by a pilot program approved by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP in Spanish) that aims to focus Home Economics on matters such as ecotourism, budgeting for the household, personal finance, managing bank accounts, and living with credit cards. This pilot program has received considerable monetary support from BAC Credomatic, an entity that will be training the teachers on the new curriculum.

Beatriz Ferreto, President of APSE, explained to Diario Extra that her organization was never approached by MEP on the matter, and that officials from BAC Credomatic surreptitiously entered the Home Economics classrooms without authorization to spy on the financial education curriculum. Ms. Ferreto suggests a troubling conflict of interest between the MEP and a private bank, and questions the financial motivations that prompted BAC and a professional association to meddle into public education affairs in Costa Rica.