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The initiative came after a 10th grade student in Montello College in Heredia last Wednesday shot the director of the school, Nancy Chaverri, who is in serious condition with injuries sustained from the shooting.

On Monday the father of the young man appealed to authorities to take action to prevent this from happening to other families. On camera with his face hidden from the viewers, the man said he foresaw problems with his son, but had no idea that it would go so far and apologized the the director and her family.

Chinchilla regretted the incident and announced that the interdisciplinary team will be in charge of developing new protocols or manuals for dealing with such emergencies in public and private educational institutions.

She also told local channel 7 news that her government and Costa Rican society must give their full support to the violence prevention strategies.

Chinchilla described the incident at Montello College as tragic and said she spoke with relatives of the victim and of the young offender, who agreed to lead a national campaign against youth violence.

The Education minister, Leonardo Garnier, emphasized that all schools should continue to inspect all backpacks and bags of children entering schools.

According to Douglas Montero, medical director of the Hospital México, Chaverri is in "delicate" condition, basically in the same as when she was admitted last week.

"She has not improved, but neither has the situation gotten worse", said Montero.

The 16-year-old student is still under preventive detention.