“Cada escola que se abre e uma cadeia que se fecha”
(For every school that opens there is a prison that closes)
– A famous Brazilian saying
History
Education has been a privilege of the elite in the past. For the common people, the public school system has been adequate at best, which has led to an increase in high illiteracy levels.
Although primary education is free, poor families have to overcome many obstacles. Some include the buying of studying materials at the start of a school term which will pose many financial problems to the parents. Parents must also purchase a set of uniform which would not come cheap, or their child risks being sent home.
All these resulted in a weak education system for the Latin Americans for a long period of time. The illiterates are then controlled by the elites who have received education. This trend led to a worst gap between the rich and the poor, as the rich get richer and the poor becomes poorer.
Today’s education system
The school year runs from February to December with a month of vacation in July. School attendance is compulsory as compared to the past. With help from the government, the illiteracy rate dropped.
However, in the year 2007, Singapore literacy rate stood at 94.4% as compared to Brazil’s 90% after the Human Development Report done by the United Nations Development Programme. This statistics shows us that clearly there is still a need and room for improvement.
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