In his first five months in office, Lula authorized the expansion of scientific initiation, master's and doctorate scholarships, with an investment of millions of dollars.
Brasilia, June 12 (RHC)-- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will present the new Literacy Policy that will govern the country, considered the main program of his government in the field of Education, official sources reported.
According to what the minister of the sector, Camilo Santana, said last week: "It will be the largest program of our ministry, to ensure that all children in the second year of primary education can become literate, read and write at the right age."
Camilo Santana also assured that the new policy was cemented through conversations with municipal education secretaries and with the Union of Municipal Education Leaders. He further stated that with the national pact for literacy, Brazil should raise its National Basic Education Evaluation System index to 80 percent of students educated to the second year of elementary school, as the current percentage is only 43.7 percent.
According to data from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), disclosed in September 2022, two million children and young people between 11 and 19 years of age dropped out of school before completing Basic Education. The dropout rate among the rich is only four percent and among the poor, 17 percent.
Experts point out that there was a drop of 650 thousand enrollments in Early Childhood Education between zero and five years between 2019 and 2021, probably due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which can be reversed with more active search, quality of supply and expansion, especially of daycare centers.
The Alfabetiza Brasil survey showed that only four out of 10 children in the second year of primary school were literate in the country in 2021.
According to official data, the illiteracy rate in the South American giant for men over 15 years of age is currently 6.9 percent and 6.3 percent for women. The rate among black or mixed-race people (8.9 percent) is more than double that observed among whites (3.6).
The minister mentioned that, in these first five months of his administration, Lula authorized the expansion of scientific initiation, master's and doctorate scholarships, with an investment of millions of dollars. The media highlight that, with respect to short-term actions, some of the initial guidelines of Lula's administration are bearing fruit.
Likewise, Brazil has achieved a 54 percent increase in the offer of scholarships for teacher training, including those of the teacher training program, as well as the readjustment of the federal review for school lunch.
