Usually, besides the regular sylabus, private schools offer supplementary activities, such as sports, languages, arts, etc. Costs of private schools may go very high, depending on the quality (and reputation) of the institution; an ordinary private school usually costs a few hundred reais, but top schools like Porto Seguro, Dante Alighieri, Colgio São Bento, American School of Brasilia, etc. can get into the thousands of dollars per month.
Official website of the Ministry of Education
Because of federal fundings, public universities are, in general, better than private ones. Public universities, which do not seek financial returns, are more likely to invest in the formation of professors and in expensive structures, needed for courses such as Medicine and Engineering. The majority of private culties offer courses of Human Sciences, such as Laws (the course with biggest growth over the recent years), Administration, Accounts.
Brazil is participating of the One Laptop Per Child project (aiming at providing low cost laptops to poor children in Third World countries), but the program moves slowly. Read more information (in Portuguese) about the Notebook for Children program in Brazil.
Clause II of article 208 says that the State should seek a progressive universalization of the free intermediary education (cf. this with Clause I of same article, which reads that elementary education is mandatory and free); the article, however, does not establish a term in which the universalization shall be reached.
Despite the cts that fundamental education is mandatory and work under the age of 16 is forbidden, Brazil has many cases of innt labour; and the reason is : parents need their kids to work to make money. Some kinds of scenes already exhibited in the Evening News: children aged 3 breaking nuts with a stick; boys aged 10 carrying and throwing wood into brick ovens.
The situation has been improving over the past few years thanks to two official programmes: Bolsa Escola, by which parents who keep their children in school and with good health receive a small stipend, and FUNDEF, by which municipalities receive federal funds in accordance to the number of children enrolled.
Cursinhos became an important link in the Brazilian education chain. They exist in all medium and large cities, where there is a significant number of students finishing high school. They invest much in marketing, trying to capture candidates to university. They hire some of the best teachers (with corresponding highest salaries) in the market; these teachers have the difficult job to try to pass, in one year, learning which should have been acquired over three years.
Most elementary schools are maintained either by municipalities or the States (as determined by paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 211); both entities are obliged to apply at least 25% of their budgets in education.
Even though not obliged, the Federal government maintains a network of technical schools, which are considered the best in Brazil. Also well regarded are the technical schools maintained by SESI and SENAI; these entities receive funds from the industries to run courses taylored to the market (usually,legal advice online. SESI and SENAI are attended by the poorer classes, as happened with President Lula).
Even in the richer areas, however, the standards have been lling over the past decadeeducation in brazil Socials. A cycle was observed in Brazil: the State invested little in education; the standards of public education dropped; the middle class moved their children to private schools; the middle class stopped to care about public education; the State invested even less in education; the standards fell even more;...
The competent authority shall be liable for the ilure of the Government in providing compulsory education or providing it irregularly., reads paragraph 2 of article 208. There have been isolated cases in which the Justice has been called to remedy situations in which a poor mily cant find elementary educations for their children; in such cases, Judges have determined that the State pay for tuition in private schools on behalf of the children.
The most important infraconstitutional law regarding education is Law nr. 9394, December 20th 1996, officially known as Lei de Diretrizes e Bases (Law of Guidelines and Bases), but often referred to as Lei Darcy Ribeiro (a tribute to one of the greatest Brazilian sociologist and educator).
The topic Education is subject of a Chapter of the Constitution, articles 205 to 214.
Ministry of Education
London based charity aiming to help the Street Kids of Brazil by providing shelters and care
Education is open to free enterprise, under official supervision.
To improve their chances on the exams, many students, after finishing intermediary education, take lessons in private courses called cursinhos or pre-vestibular courses. The cursinhos are not official institutions (attending a cursinho doesnt warrant any official recognition).
Most schools do not provide professional education. There are schools which provide, along with the regular intermediary graduation, also a professional formation; such schools are called escolas tcnicas (technical schools).
According to article 208 of Constitution, the fundamental education is mandatory and gratuitous. Only the fundamental education is mandatory in Brazil.
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Intermediary education (in Portuguese, ensino mdio) is not mandatory in Brazil.
A consequence of this state of things is that, usually, the students which could afford the best intermediary schools or even the best cursinhos are the ones approved into the free public universities, whereas the poorer classes, who cant afford a good formation, resort to the paid, lower quality, private universities.
Most graduates of the intermediary level do not have a technical formation. Many try to attend universities to obtain a diploma. Access to University is based mainly in merit, which is measured by performance in exams (called in Portuguese vestibular).
This generates a problem: richer States and richer cities have more money to invest and obtain a better education (not only because they have more funds, but also because the population are more informed and demand more resources), with better paid teachers and better infrastructure, whereas in the poorer cities and States the education will be generally of lower standards.
A much more serious - and frequent - problem is the case of children who dont attend school because their parents lack interest; many poor parents cant afford the costs of sending kids to school; or they simply prefer to send their children to work rather than to school.
This disparity between public and private universities was even bigger just a decade ago. In his term as President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso created the Provão, a set of tests which were applied to all students of selected courses upong graduation. The results of such tests were made public, and so future students could gauge the quality of all culties. Private institution started to hire better professors and invest in better infrastructure, so as to improve their results in the Provão.
Education during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Education is open to free enterprising, under official supervision. Nowadays, practically all the middle class sends their children to private schools. Costs may vary from as little as R$ 50 (US$ 20) in smaller cities to R$ 500 in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro (cities where services are most expensive in Brazil).
Superior education is neither mandatory (as fundamental education is), nor there is a plan for its universalization (as happens with secondary education). However, the absolute majority of federal investments in education goes towards superior education (a reason for this, in a country where fundamental education is so defficient, Education Information is that deans and university professors are much more vocals and have a much more powerful lobby than directors and teachers of lower level schools).
Several improvements were observed
Some of the former larger cursinhos grew so much that they became, first, franchisings, established in many cities,Online Education. and, later, institutions of superior learning; Anglo and Objetivo are some examples.
The command is valid both for the State (including the Union, the States, the Federal District and the municipalities) and for parents.
Read some info about Universities in Brazil.
Intermediary education takes three years. Most intermediary schools are maintained by the municipalities and States. A consequence of this is that the quality of schools will vary in accordance with the investment capabilities of those entities.
Just like it happens with elementary education, Brazilian middle class sends their children to private intermediary schools. Most middle class milies know that private schools are (usually) r superior to official schools. Attending private intermediary schools becomes even more important because the entrance examinations into college are focused on subjects taught in intermediary schools; statistics show that most students approved into college have attended private intermediary schools.
