EDUCATION-BRAZIL: Gov’t Promises to Wipe Out Illiteracy by 2010

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 10 2001 (IPS) - Brazil’s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced a National Education Plan on Tuesday that involves teaching 10 million adolescents and adults to read and write within five years, and eliminating illiteracy in the nation within the decade.

Some 15 million Brazilians over age 15 do not know how to read or write, according to data from 1999 that are to be updated by the census taken last August to October. The census results on education matters in general are to be released later this year.

The figure represents 13.3 percent of the adolescent-adult population, but with a sharply unequal distribution. Illiteracy rates in rural areas are four times higher than in the cities, and are especially high in the Brazilian north and northeast, while illiteracy is quite low in the south and southeast.

There are isolated towns in the interior of the country’s poorest regions where illiteracy surpasses 80 percent.

The National Education Plan, approved by Congress in compliance with a constitutional provision, raises the portion of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the budget earmarked for education from five to seven percent, combining resources coming from the government at the municipal, state and national levels.

In addition to fighting illiteracy, Brazil must improve the quality of its schools and expand access for youth to secondary and tertiary education, Cardoso emphasised.

Another challenge for 2010 is that at least 30 percent of the population ages 18 to 24 will be at university, “an ambitious goal,” acknowledged Paulo Renato Souza, minister of Education, especially since the current level is just eight percent.

But achieving that objective is possible, given the explosive growth in the number of university students in Brazil, a population that mushroomed by 43.1 percent from 1994 to 1999. Secondary schools bettered even that expansion, as the number of students rose 57.4 percent in the same period.

Souza assured that the end of illiteracy in Brazil within 10 years is “perfectly feasible,” if the country’s next governments maintain the current priority on education and the necessary increases in investment.

At the end of the Cardoso administration in 2002, the national illiteracy rate will be below 10 percent and could be less then five percent by 2007, he predicted, based on the progress made as a result of the structural changes implemented since 1995.

Universal access to primary education, now known as “fundamental education” in Brazil, is practically assured for all children ages seven to 14, he pointed out. Currently, more than 96 percent of all children regularly attend school, compared to 86 percent in 1991.

In addition, programmes are underway to improve the quality of teaching at all levels, to expand pre-school education, to develop curricula for special needs children, and to target children who have to repeat a year or who drop out, the minister pointed out.

One of the Ministry’s top priorities is secondary education, which currently serves 33.4 percent of the population ages 15 to 17. The goal is to raise high school registration to 80 percent of that age group.

This evolution in Brazil’s education system has helped put illiteracy on the decline, as new generations are assured of having a school to go to, stated Souza, and commented that the illiteracy problem is concentrated among people over 50.

In order to teach youth and adults to read, the government is promoting a literacy solidarity programme, mobilising universities and the private sector. Since 1997, more than 1.5 million people over age 15 have participated in the six-month course.

The programme targets those municipalities where illiteracy surpasses 30 percent. So far, more than 1,200 towns have taken part in the literacy efforts.

Their results, however, are not very encouraging, according to reports indicating that just 25 percent of the students complete the course with the ability to read and write simple sentences. There are also criticisms about the cost: 18 dollars per month per student – four times more than other similar projects.

Brazil’s regular education system also suffers performance problems, according to assessments by the Ministry of Education. Tests in recent years indicate that many secondary schools do not meet the minimum requirements and face being shut down.

Reports also show a deterioration in fundamental education over the last few years, which some experts attribute to the system that prevents students from being held back a year, automatically sending them on to the next grade.

Given the negative factors that remain in place, the impressive quantitative results obtained in literacy must be backed by major efforts to improve the overall quality of education in Brazil, agree observers.