The last year of Lula's first mandate, 2006, stimulates us to take an account of four years of development in the area of education.  Keeping in mind the impossibility of fully exploring the actions of the government with respect to the universality of access to quality education, not to mention seeking some guarantee of mechanisms of social participation in the generation of public policy, the following is a brief account of the government's attempts to increase access to aducation. 

The greatest of many frustrations during this administration was the failure of the National Congress to approve the Basic Education Development Fund (Fundo de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica – Fundeb), due to the gloomy state of parliamentarians in the face of political struggles leading up to the elections.  All indications show that in 2007 resources for the registration of primary and high school students and for basic education for those over fourteen years of age, all of which is possible within Fundeb, will remain unavailable. 

In the case of primary school, greater access was stimulated by a change of legislation that established registration in basic education starting at six years of age, as well as the increase in the levels of education for children of eight and nine years of age.

States and municipalities have until 2010 to implement the new configuration within the networks of education in the whole country. Standards established by the National Education Plan, however important, were not met for children of zero to five years old, who are still without any financial guarantees.

In relation to other sectors of the population traditionally excluded from educational rights there have been some important gains over the last few years, although these are quite insufficient.

Inclusive Education

In 2001 the National Education Plan estimated that nearly 15 million Brazilians have special educational needs. Despite the fact that the Justice System guarantees access to the regular educational system, the school census of 2005 showed only 640,317 registrations, including both regular schools and those schools that are exclusively for children with educational disabilities.

Despite the recommendations of national and international institutions for the inclusion of students in the regular school system, only 41% of students with special needs are so registered, with 59% attending only special schools.

In terms of resources, in accord with the Department of Education (MEC), nearly $50 million reais were invested in the last three years to support those with special needs within the educational system in states and municipalities.  At the moment, 82.3% of municipalities in Brazil offer registration to those with special needs.

Meanwhile, government spending on the registration of those with special needs remains at very unsatisfactory levels. The Department of Education currently establishes that the expenditure for each special needs child is $730.38 reais per year.  Studies done by the National Campaign for the Right to Education regarding the "Cost of Quality for Students" (Custo Aluno Qualidade – CAQ) indicates that this value should be, at least $1,365.29 reais per person, per year.  Current negotiations with the government indicate that spending levels, although not yet clearly defined, will not attend to the demands of civil society.

Adult Literacy

At the beginning of 2003, the then federal government announced that literacy education for children and adults would be one of its priorities, and thus constituted the Brazil Literacy Program. 

Budget statistics reveal that federal spending on literacy education for children and adults grew by more than 30 times in the period between 2000 and 2005--from $6.4 million to $203 million reais.  Meanwhile, this increase does not mean that the Brazil Literacy Program is meeting its objectives, and the results achieved so far are below the expectations of the MEC (Minsistry of Education and Culture) itself.  The National Research on Domestic Trends (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios – PNAD) of 2005, for example, showed there is a small decline in the absolute illiteracy rate, 0.5% in 2001 to 0.3% in 2005.

According to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada--Ipea), the body responsible for ongoing evaluation of the Brazil Literacy Program, the low impact of the program indicates that it is not sufficiently focused on its target public--those are absolutely illiterate.

According to information from the MEC, at the end of 2005, 43% of illiterate people participating in the program were not absolutely illiterate when they first entered.  The inefficiency of the of Literacy Brazil is associated with the lack of opportunities for continuing study, which indicates the necessity of the consolidation of education for young people and adults in the public school system, a situation dependent on the approval of a special fund.

In 2005, two policies were announced to attend specifically to this group.  The project “Saberes da Água” was directed to 1,300 fishers along the banks of the São Francisco River.  The Educating for Freedom program, which received support from Unesco and the Ministry of Justice, seeks to provide literacy education for 5,000 incarcerated people in twenty states.

Parallel to these pilot projects, which were not extended to all the prisons in the country, the MEC and the Ministry of Justice acted together in the development of the National Directives for Education in the Penitentiary System. This proposal must still be analyzed by the National Council of Education and the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy, and thus has not yet been ratified.

The Limits

All this information should alert the government to two challenges.  On one hand, it is necessary both to expand and universalize access to educational resources.  There is no way to guarantee education for all sectors of the population if there is no investment in those people who are most vulnerable.

On the other hand, it is urgent to reaffirm the objectives of the National Education Plan, and to guarantee a participatory processes of social control in all levels of government.  It is important to remember that the education sector of the government is the least open to influence by civil society organizations, and is the only sector that does not hold consultative conferences where the proposals of social movements can be expressed.

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