This report was published in www.NYtimes.com at September 4,2010 and was written by Alexei Barrionuevo, this is a summary, the title is above.
Perhaps more than any other challenge facing Brazil today, education is a stumbling block in its bid to accelerate its economy and establish itself as one of the world`s most powerful nations, exposing a weakness in its newfound armor.
"Unfortunately, in an era of global competition, the current state of education in Brazil means it is like to fall behind other developing economies in the search for new investment and economic growth opportunities," the World Bank concluded in a 2008 report.
Brazilian 15-year-olds tied for 49th out of 56 countries on the reading exam of the Program for International Student Assessment, with more than half scoring in the test`s bottom reading level in 2006. In math and science, they fared even worse.
The urgency could hardly be clearer. Brazil has already established itself as a global force, riding a commodity and domestic consumption boom to become one of the largest economies. With huge new oil discoveries and an increasingly important role in profiding food and raw materials to China, the country is poised to surge even more. But the nation`s educational shortcomings are leaving many Brazilians on the sidelines. More than 22% of the roughly 25 million workers available to join Brazil`s workforce this year were not considered qualified to meet the demand of the labor market, according to a government report in March. "In certain cities and states we have a problem hiring workers, even though we do have employment," said the president of the Institute for Applied Economic Research, the agency that produced the report. Earlier estimates showed that tens of thousand of jobs went unclaimed because there were not enough qualified professionals to fill them. Finding workers with the adequate basic skills for even manual labor is becoming a challenge, and many companies are not waiting for Brazil`s education system to catch up. The Construction giant Odebrecht, is one of several companies that train a potential labor pool for a few months in basic reading and math. "Education is the big disadvantage when compared to China, India and Russia," said the director of human resources at Odebrecht.
¨Brazil will continue to grow slower than its potential,¨ said an economist at the Brazilian Economic Institute at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. ¨If it had a better education system, things would be better.
