The Cooperative

Presentation

Coopejovo R.L. is one of only 5 cooperatives of educational services in the country. It was the second to be created and currently has been in existence for 17 years. It is a traditional cooperative in its nature, of open membership, considered as a solvent and balanced cooperative, it has 346 associates and it is possible to affirm that it is in a state of evolution and development. Today, as a business project, it operates a secondary education institution that has attended to an average of between 280 and 350 students annually, with monthly payments only increased under the parameter of the calculation to the cost of living and in a spirit highly attached to the principle of cooperative nonprofit enterprise.

Background

COOPEJOVO R.L., is a cooperative dedicated to educational services. It was created by the need to provide a valid and sustainable administrative figure in order to give continuity to the initiative presented by a group of parents and mothers from the city of Cartago, who were concerned about the innovation of the education of their children, which was the beginning of Jorge Volio Jiménez Bilingual High School.

The High School is conceived then as a quality educational option, service-minded and aimed to the generation of community leaders in different areas, with a corporate philosophy focusing on human sensibility, the arts, technology and bilingualism, an inclusive educational model which since 1993, and envisioned what is now a whole trend. The High School is founded thanks to the efforts of the Foundation José de San Martín and two years after its conception, the need to transfer management to the legal figure that is today was determined. Such was the birth of COOPEJOVO R.L., whose growth prospects in a national context  that provides facilities of support and democratic character, which is the cooperative sector.

The Constituent Assembly of COOPEJOVO R.L. Is then made in 1995 with 51 founding associates, most initial members of the High School and of the Foundation.

Therefore, both the High School and the Cooperative, were named after Jorge Volio Jimenez as tribute to the great Costa Rican politician who devoted his life to serving the poor, throughout a political career focused on defending and promoting legislation for the working class and the needy, a social leader of the time. He was also a priest and a great educator, leaving valuable publications on social and historical aspects in the country.

COOPEJOVO R.L. Today

Creating COOPEJOVO R.L. as administrator of the Jorge Volio Jiménez Bilingual High School, responds to the need to ensure a complete education and academic excellence to students in the framework of cooperative values and principles as justice, freedom, tolerance, responsibility, communication and love. Using modern teaching strategies focused on personalized attention, which considers the student as responsible for their own teaching-learning process. This seeks to give them the tools to achieve spiritual growth, and help them to become able to respond creatively to the demands of a complex and rapidly changing environment. For this, the High School promotes the development of research attitudes and a constant search of knowledge, aiming to form responsible citizens, educated and active, committed to the sustained development of the world and our country. In this task the Institution actively integrates parents to the High School as also responsible for the formation of their children.

COOPEJOVO R.L., as a cooperative enterprise, has a legal framework regulated by INFOCOOP (Institute for Cooperative Development) which is the governing body of the national cooperative sector, working under the legislation of the Cooperative Associations Act and the creation of INFOCOOP (Act 4179) and IS administratively and internally ruled by the bylaws gestated by COOPEJOVO, R.L. and endorsed by the INFOCOOP.

Currently, the cooperative is in a transitional stage and vision of new opportunities and approaches to determine additional benefits to their partners and the Community of Cartago, hoping that very soon they will be available.