This report was published in the Economist.com at 12 April 2007. This is a summary and the title is:
LOW MARKS.
Education is still letting the country down.
Brazil came dead last in maths and fourth from the bottom in reading tests administered in 40 countries by the OECD. Working-age brazilians have an average of 4.1 years of schooling, compared with six in China. This is the biggest obstacle to Brazilians ambitions.
To be fair, herculean progress has already been made. Little more than a decade ago some 17% of children aged 7-14 did not go to school. That changed in the 1990s when the federal government started distributing money to states and municipalities on the basis of enrollment in primary school.
Brazil spends 4.3% of GDP on public education. Much of the money is wasted. Brazil is among the world champion in grade repetition. Undertrained, overstretched teachers know other way of controlling their classroom. Starting, salaries for teachers are low, which deters good candidates, encouragement and incentives are both in short supply. In some places the school system is plagued by absences for medical reasons. And students spend an average of only three hours a day in class.
Worry about Brazil`s lagging education system is becoming more widespread. A gaggle of enterprises and NGOs banded together last year to form ¨Everyone for education¨. a moviment to push for better results.Global competition is obliging enterprises to adopt international quality standards. Which in turn demand a workforce more educated.
Fundef, the federal fund that financed the expansion of primary education in poorer states, has been turn to Fundeb, which covers pre-school and high school as well.
State and local initiatives also seem to be making a difference. Seven of the ten highest scoring school districts in the state of São Paulo had a private company COC, to manage their classroom. In COC run schools teachers attend monthy training sessions, are constant evaluated and learn how to deal with problems children.
