Goal 2. Brazil

Goal 2: Brazil
Alexa Coleman

         Brazil has made great gains in universal primary school enrollment—from 67% student enrollment in 1970 to 96% in 1998 for 7-14 year old students (UNESCO, 2011).

After having reached universal coverage in primary education, Brazil is now struggling to improve the quality and outcome of the system, especially at the basic and secondary levels. As of 2008, saw approximately 40-70% of students drop out of school before completing primary school and, as a result, a primary school completion rate of 55% (Cardoso & Verner, 2006; Sabates et al. 2010; Leon, 2002). While 95% of students in the country have access to education, only 59% finished eighth grade in 2011 (World Fund, 2012). As of 2010, 20% of students enrolled in primary school are over-age in Brazil (Global Education Digest, 2012; UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011).

        The federal government in Brazil oversees the country’s educational system. The Ministry of Education is the department in charge of providing funding, and educational guidelines while individual states are responsible for implementing these standards and regulations. There is a private alternate for schooling as well in Brazil. Over the last 15 years, Brazilian government programs have managed to achieve near 100% attendance in basic education from ages seven to fourteen. This push began in the 1990s under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with thousands of new schools being built.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government incentivized poorer families to send their student to school using Bolsa Familia. One of the conditions of the grant is that card carrying members of Brazil’s massive social welfare program agree to keep their school-aged children in the classroom, with a minimum monthly attendance rate of 85% for kids under 15, 75% for kids in their junior and senior years of high school. According to a Basic Education Census, conducted by a government agency, school performance is better and dropout rates are lower among students receiving government aid. In high schools, the pass rate among these students is 79.9%, while the national average is 75.2%. Also, the dropout rate is 7% among the program participants compared to 11% for the national average. Ranging from 22 reais ($12) to 200 reais ($116) as long as their children attend classes (Rapoza, 2013). Although strides have been made, Brazil still struggles with providing adequate public education and teachers for its students, particularly in highly populated areas.