X - Education

The third year of the Real Plan was marked by the implementation of actions with strong impact that are changing the currents of Brazilian education.

In 1996, the institutional changes became a reality with the passage and implementation of the constitutional amendment that creates the Fund for the Development of Basic Education and for the Improvement of Teachers (Fundo de Desenvolvimento do Ensino Fundamental e Valorização do Magestério). This action is crucial to fulfilling the priority being given to basic education.

In 1997 there will be new successes, such as the National Informatics Program in Education for restructuring professional technical training

Substantial success has been achieved in the struggle to improve the quality of instruction. The national test of students ("provão") demonstrated the real conditions of university education in our country. Similarly, the technical evaluation undertaken of textbooks financed and distributed by the government was the first one in the country's history.

Several other successes should also be noted, such as the implementation of the School by TV Program, the accelerated decentralization of the school lunch program, and others.

1996 was the year of education, when new winds blew in a strong trend toward better education in our country, giving priority to primary education among other things. In 1997 there certainly will be new advances, such as a restructuring of professional technical training, the National Program of Informatics in Education, and a constitutional amendment granting effective autonomy to the universities.

The following describes some of the principal programs, actions and achievements in the education sector.

In 1994, there were 32,048,420 students registered to begin primary education. In 1996, this number jumped to 33,131,270. Of these, 88% were children in the public schools. A total of 3,982,468 students registered to study in the public sector middle schools. In 1996, this number rose 14.56%, reaching 4,562,558. During the same period, the number of students registered in the private schools increased 11.78%, going from 1,052,499 to 1,176,519.

Registrations in primary education are growing at a figure of more than one million per year.

These data suggest that primary education is gradually becoming universal in the country. There is less truancy and less repetition of grades. As their social conditions improve, families prefer to give their children more education rather than quickly sending them out to work in order to increase the family income.

Investments in education - the Fund for the Development of Basic Education and for the Improvement of Teachers provides R$300 per student per year.

At the government's initiative, a constitutional amendment created the Fund for the Development of Basic Education and for the Improvement of Teachers. It permits, beginning in 1998, the automatic allocation of R$12 billion to primary education, which works out to R$300 per student in all municipalities. The average per student today is less than R$100. The fund will permit also an increase in teachers' salaries so that the national average will approximate R$300.

Since 1995, the Program for the Maintenance and Development of Primary Education has transferred resources directly to the state and municipal schools.

Program for the Maintenance and Development of Primary Education - money in the school.

In 1995, more than 100,000 schools in 200 cities received R$228,700,000. In 1996, R$262,800,000 was given to some 170,000 schools, benefiting more than 31 million students.

In 1997, when the NGOs involved in special education will be included, R$272,000,000 will be sent to the schools. Those schools that participate in the Community Solidarity Program will receive 30% more than the established rates.

Since 1995, all of the 33 million students in the primary grades receive their textbooks at the beginning of the school year. That year, 110 million books were distributed, i.e., 83% more than in 1994. The books for 1997 began to be distributed in October 1996. By January 1997, some 87.2 million books had been delivered to 175,000 schools. Thus, all the children in the first to eighth grades in the public schools are being supplied books at the same time.

The Textbook Program - more books for primary schools.

The FAE/FNDE, responsible for the program, is decentralizing the purchase and distribution of textbooks.

Created four decades ago, the National School Lunch Program gained new momentum in September 1995 when the Foundation for Student Assistance (FAE) increased by 50% the resources for buying foodstuffs. The nutritive level was increased for the snacks given to students, before classes begin, in the schools of the cities covered by the Community Solidarity Program.

The School Lunch Program - to serve 34 million children.

Table 11

The TV School Program broadcasted since March 1996 is an exclusive channel that, broadcast via satellite, reaches 51,820 schools throughout the country. Its programs both train and update teachers, and provide materials for classroom use. Every public school with more than one hundred students has received R$1,500 to purchase the necessary equipment (television, VCR, antenna, table, and a box of ten VHS tapes).

A total of 38,846 schools have already purchased the equipment and 29,433 have installed it.

The TV School Program - reaching 1.5 million teachers and 24 million students.

It is essential for the country to modernize its educational system with the introduction of computers. By the end of 1997, the first computers will be arriving at the public schools. In the meantime, teachers will be learning how to utilize the machines. Some R$207,000,000 will be spent to train 25,000 teachers by the end of 1998. No school will receive computers unless it has teachers who are able to use them.

The computerization of education - 100,000 computers in 6,000 schools.

The State Secretaries of Education, using criteria based on the number of schools and the number of students in each of them, have selected the 6,000 schools that will receive 100,000 computers in the first phase of the Computerization Program.