Education in Brazil – it no longer works
Posted by By Mark Hillary at 28 September, at 15 : 05 PM Print
The popular Brazilian news magazine Veja has a striking front cover this week featuring a business executive with steam bursting from his ears above the headline ‘Não dá mais’ – it no longer works.
The Veja story is focused on the combination of absurd laws and bureaucracy that plague business owners – and regular citizens – in Brazil. Veja blames this day-after-day misery squarely on the shoulders of the ‘stupid politicians and bureaucrats.’
IT Decisions has often commented on legal issues affecting IT in Brazil. Despite the creation of an outsourcing commission fairly recently, there appears to be little or no progress on moving beyond the announcement of a commission. Where are the proposals for improving the relationship between contractors, contracting companies, and clients? We have yet to see anything and we even offered our time and expertise to the government – at no cost.
And our recent focus on education tells a similar story. There are plenty of ideas and announcements while the cameras are focused on the politicians, but only glacial progress toward change once the news agenda has moved on.
Brazil is poised on the verge of becoming an information technology superpower. Every analyst and commentator sees a bright future ahead and technology is the foundation for much of this projected BRICs success. Yet the technology industry needs educated people, not just raw manpower.
The best that The Economist magazine can say for the education system in Brazil is that it has moved recently from disastrous to very bad. At least that’s a step in the right direction. The Economist Intelligence Unit recently singled out a lack of supply of skilled resource as the single biggest challenge to the IT industry in Brazil today, also commenting that Chile was a lot more competitive in general and both India and China are working harder to improve their education system.
IT Decisions featured a comment on Brazilian pedagogy only yesterday. Yet a piecemeal approach to improving the school system in Brazil won’t be good enough – at present the teachers are paid peanuts to educate the workforce of the future and they have had enough. Teachers are deserting the profession as fast as they can find private sector opportunities.
Vast areas of the world stand on the edge of an economic precipice just as Brazil stares at the enormous opportunity of becoming a global IT leader. Will the politicians choose to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because they are too timid to reform the education system in favor of preparing for the knowledge-based industry of the near future?
Photo by Santi MB licensed under Creative Commons
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Fernando Borges, 1 year ago
Changed from desastrous to vary bad… Fastastic progress…
Fernando Borges, 1 year ago
*Changed from disastrous to vary bad… Fastastic progress…
Gustavo, 1 year ago
Brazilian governments (either Federal and States) in the past 20 years or so are focusing education improvement efforts on the Universities, when the efforts should be focused more on primary and secondary schools.
I know it’s not that simple but there should be a plan to make that happen. Just as right now there is an amendment being voted to obligate governments to dedicate 12% of the budget entirely to Health (and creeping the hell out of Govmt), something similar could be done to guarantee more resources to Education sector. And Governments should have the GUTS to do that by realocating the budget, not by increasing taxation over 190 mi clowns.
Why holding both World Cup and Olympics almost simultanously if you know there are so much other priorities? To me it sounds like buying a Ferrari and aware its insurance, petrol and maintenance costs can’t be afforded.
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
It’s true that there needs to be a renewed focus on schools. What do you think can really make this happen though? Is there any interest from the education minister?
Gustavo, 1 year ago
There’s this version that, although sounds cruel, seems quite feasable – that it isn’t politically interesting to have a large amount of educated people. Let’s say – the more educated people there will be, the less they will vote on politicians that never did any good for them.
It’s a reasonable idea because there are so many politicians that even dogs know are corrupt and got rich because of that – specially in the Northeast – and they get reelected every time. Sarney is the best example but there are so many others.
Myself, I strongly defend the idea of ceasing the obligation to vote. That could lead to an interest increase in people’s education.
Orlando Barrozo, 1 year ago
Dear Mark and Gustavo,
Thank you for bringing this up! Education is, in my view, the greatest brazilian tragedy, and I don’t think I am exagerating whatsoever. Back in my college days, in the 70′s, I started to hear stories about how the military govt had blocked out the public schools from improving by controling their budgets and giving way to private educational corps, like Objetivo, just to name one. I eventually came to find out that was completely true. Politicians (and not only military) have no interest in providing good education for the people, since they profit from ignorance at large. Unfortunately, no govt since then has handled this. Lula had a big chance when he named senator Cristovao Buarque as Minister of Education. Buarque is a long-time defender of a new education system, but he was humiliated in public by being fired through a phone call!!! That alone says a lot about how Lula and his peers treat education. Such a shame! Rgds