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By Maria Josefina Arce
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has insisted that education funds should not be viewed as an expense but as an investment in the country’s future. And along the way, his government has made it its mission to provide more resources to this sector, vital to the country’s development, and to implement programs that improve the quality of education and benefit the poorest sectors.
It is a debt to the most vulnerable, whose opportunities have been further restricted under the administration of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, but also a goal to raise the standards of students, which have seen a significant decline.
In the first months of his third term, Lula da Silva unveiled the South American giant’s new literacy policy, designed to ensure that all children learn to read and write in the second year of primary school.
According to the Alfabetiza Brasil study, in 2021 only four out of ten children could read and write at this level of education.
The current government has also launched the Full-Time School Program, which proposes to expand the provision of full-time schools in basic education centers by one million enrollments.
Experts point out that this initiative reduces the number of dropouts, increases employment and strengthens the retention of students and teachers in school. There are studies that also show a decline in homicides among young people.
Another measure was to increase the offer of scholarships for teacher training, including scholarships for entry into teaching, by 54%.
The arrival of Lula da Silva at Planalto Palace also made a difference in education after his predecessor left that area. Bolsonaro cut the education budget, prompting young people and teachers to take to the streets in protest.
In October 2022, just months after his term ended, he blocked around $119 million earmarked for research at public universities.
Dozens of projects that were essential to Brazil’s scientific and technological progress were canceled.
The government led by Lula da Silva is working to save education, a sector that, as the president explained, has been under constant attack in recent years and that, on the contrary, must be a priority for the authorities in order to create a more just and progressive society to reach .