The EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports
Brazil

Until recently, youth and adult education, the so-called EJA, was relegated to a secondary position in the general framework of educational policies in Brazil, being viewed as a compensatory policy meant to offer "a second chance" to those who had been unable to attend school at the proper age. Because of this characterization as a policy concerned about filling the schooling lacuna of people who belonged mostly to the poorest segments of society, EJA was never fully integrated into a national project for education.

In the late 80s and early 90s, several studies stressed the need for EJA to become part of a specific policy devised and planned around the universe of young people and working adults. This process of progressive recognition of the importance and specific nature of adolescents and adults bore relevant results. The first of these was the inclusion in the Constitution of 1988, of the guarantee of compulsory and free primary education, even for those who had not had access to it at the proper age. This constitutional provision was later changed with the elimination of the compulsory nature of education for adolescents and adults but the duty remained for the State to provide it free of charge.

The Education Guidelines and Framework Law of 1996 included new ideas regarding EJA, based on the acknowledge that attention had to be paid to the needs and interests of those individuals who already have a certain experience in life and are part of the labor force, and who therefore possess a quite different background from the children and adolescents who form the target audience of regular primary education. So EJA came to occupy a prominent position amid what is usually called "continued, permanent education."

During the first five years of this decade, the Federal Administration paid little attention and provided scant resources to EJA programs. Moreover, it closed down the Educar Foundation, which had replaced Mobral, the Brazilian Literacy Movement for Youths and Adults, in 1985, and since then had been responsible for establishing pedagogic guidelines for EJA on a national scale. The funds of this foundation were used in agreements with state and municipal governments as well as organizations from civil society, trade unions and professional associations.

From 1994 on, however, the Federal Administration began to invest in seeking solutions to the chief problems spelt out by educators of youths and adults. This year saw the start of a program addressed to the publication of material that filled the lack of didactic resources appropriate to the interests and needs of the age group catered for by this program and which helped to train specialized personnel. Another initiative was to offer the award "Education for Quality in Work" in 1996, with the aim of recognizing the value of, and lending a society dimension to, successful experiences carried out by the business sector and by governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Government attention to EJA was consolidated in 1997 with the publication of three crucially important documents: "Proposta Curricular para a Educação de Jovens e Adultos" (A Proposed Curriculum for Youth and Adult Education), "Elementos para uma Avaliação Diagnóstica de Níveis e Conteúdos de Alfabetismo Adulto" (Elements for a Diagnostic Evaluation of the Situation and Contents of Adult Literacy), and "Manual de Orientação para a Implantação do Programa de Educação de Jovens e Adultos do Ensino Fundamental" (Manual for the Implementation of the Youth and Adult Primary Education Program). Produced in partnership with civil-society organizations, municipal and state Education Secretariats and universities, these publications form part of a set of didactic and support material for EJA students and teachers.

Data relating to illiteracy in Brazil show the population without or with less than one year of schooling highly concentrated in the age group above 40 years old, and especially over 60. Notwithstanding, the situation of the younger age groups is no less worrisome. Between 10 and 14 years old, the portion of children without or with less than one year of schooling totals 10.11%, double the figure registered for young people between 15 and 19 years old - 5.36% (Table 45). In the latter age group, however, 21.65% of the adolescents failed to complete the first 4 grades and 66.55% have not completed the 8 years of primary education. The indices for the age group of 20-24 are better, thus confirming the phenomenon of late schooling and backwardness due to repetition: 20.12% failed to conclude the 4 first grades and 55.90% did not complete the basic 8 years of school.

Brazil has made great efforts towards attending to this population of 15 or over. The School Census for 1998 shows the magnitude of this effort, despite presenting under-estimated data for looking only at programs with the presence of teachers and evaluated during the process (Table 46). Numerous programs without evaluation have been offered, especially by NGOs, such data not being included in the Census.

Table 46 shows that a grand total of 2,881,231 Brazilians are enrolled in these school-based courses, most of whom are completing their primary education. Enrollment in the upper grades is higher than in the first grades, which is a positive factor in that it shows that they have already completed that level of schooling. The number of students in secondary education, also included in this section, amounts to about 18% of the whole and indicates the population's effort to achieve a more advanced level of schooling.

A further positive aspect of these data is that the supply of primary education by far surpasses the literacy courses, which are being replaced by programs of broader scope. The data per age group confirm the effort to make up, albeit belatedly, for deficient schooling: over two-thirds of the population enrolled in these courses are over 18 years of age. Table 48 also shows that school-based courses are predominantly public. The private sector, including the courses offered by NGOs, covers no more than 12.7% of enrollments.

In spite of the significant progress made through the decade, the main difficulty of EJA policies in Brazil is still the precarious service that fails to satisfy the existing potential demand. The fact that this educational program has been mostly covering the youth population is yet another reason for the Federal Administration to raise investments in the area and ensure access to education to citizens with a great contribution to give to the country in economic, social, political and cultural terms.

Accordingly, EJA policies for the decade to come have to face great challenges: increase available resources, expand the coverage, strengthen the qualification and permanent training of teachers; adjust programs to the concept of continued education, with special emphasis on the needs related to the labor market and strengthening of citizenship; integration with cultural and sports activities, and promoting access to information and new technologies.

The first two years of the 1990s were particularly difficult for special education on all three levels of government. In March 1990, the Secretariat for Special Education become part of the National Secretariat for Basic Education as a Coordinating Board for the Supplementary and Special Education Department of the Ministry of Education. This administrative measure led to changes in the objectives of the human rights policy, which became a less important compensatory action. Therefore, the disqualification and the resulting political weakening of the sector led to the discontinuity of educational proposals then underway, as well as the interruption of several projects carried out with resources from international bodies.

Only in November 1992, a new policy was introduced to strengthen the sector, with the re-creation of the Special Education Secretariat within the framework of the Ministry of Education, through Law n. 8.490. The progressive recognition of the importance and specific features of the education of students with special learning needs has led to the allocation of more funds for this purpose and to the empowerment of the required physical and human infrastructure, thereby expanding and improving the quality of special education in the country.

In 1994, after a year of wide national discussion, the National Special Educational policy - the first in the history of the country - was instituted and has since then oriented government actions in that area. In the following year, the Ministry of Education focused its efforts on implementing this policy throughout the country, preferentially in the regular education network. The new concepts and paradigms related to this modality of school education and students requiring special attention were incorporated into the Law of Basic Guidelines of 1996. Thus, special education services were ensured at all levels and in all the remaining education programs to whomever needs them.

These documents guaranteed the consolidation of the policy action of the State in the area of special education, and led it to make every possible effort to expand it. From that point on the government has dedicated itself to municipalizing special education aiming at extending this service to at least 1,500 municipalities. In addition to advocating the integration of disabled individuals into the regular school network, the Ministry of Education determined that the National Curricular Parameters should be used as a reference for all students, including those with special educational needs, duly respecting their different tempo and skills.

With the re-structuring of the sector as a starting point, the Federal Administration promoted the National Campaign to Integrate Students with Deficiencies into the Regular Education Network, initially addressed to 1,500 municipalities. Exceeding these initial expectations, 2,739 municipalities ended up being reached, representing almost half of all Brazilian municipalities.

One aspect that deserves highlighting before proceeding to an analysis of the service supplied has to do with the basic guideline that orients procedures in this area: the integration of students with special needs into educational programs, preferably into the regular school network. This process, however, has been facing much resistance in some cases. This integration is still not feasible or at least very difficult in some situations. Recent policies in the sector have relied on the following arrangements to organize the coverage to be provided in this area: full integration, with our without the so-called resource rooms, special rooms and special schools. The latter is meant to attend to cases where integral education is not feasible, whether because of the conditions of the student or of the system.

Anyway, the coverage provided by schools is still insufficient. In 1998, there were about 337,000 students enrolled, distributed as follows: 53.8% with mental disabilities, 12.6% with multiple disabilities, 12.6% with hearing problems, 4.9% with physical disabilities, 4.6% with visual problems, and 2.7% with typical behavior problems. Only 0.4% were highly skilled or exceptionally gifted, and 8.5% had some other kind of disability.

Of the 5,507 municipalities in Brazil, 2,739 of them (49.1%) were already offering special education in 1998. Regional differences are enormous. In the Northeast, only 21.7% of all municipalities provided this educational program, whereas in the South, 58.1% of them provided special education. In the Southeast, this percentage drops to 48.6%, while in the North and Mid-West regions it drops to 42.5% and 42.8%, respectively.

As for type of institution, 48.2% of all special-education schools in 1998 were state-managed, 26.8% were municipal, 24.8% were private and 0.2% were managed by the federal administration. Enrollments were distributed in a similar way, with one variation: 46.9% in private schools, 34,2% in state-managed schools, 18.7% in municipal schools and 0.3% in federal schools.

The coverage by education level was as follows in 1998: 91,181 children covered by Early Childhood Education programs; 169,721 in primary schools; 2,944 in secondary schools; and 8,655 covered by youth and adult education programs. An additional group of 64,815 students taking other kinds of courses are reported as "others."

The data presented in Table 49 show that between 1988 and 1998 there was an increase in the enrollment of students with special needs. The most significant growth occurred in the municipal and private networks. In 1998, the municipal network had about 11,000 students, while in 1998 almost 63,000 students were enrolled in it, which represents a growth of 453% in enrolments. In the private network, there was an increase of 127%. The growth registered in the state-managed network was much lower than the national average.

Although short of the real needs of the country, the set of actions developed by the government over the last few years has ensured an expressive drive to special education, this being translated in the increased access of handicapped schoolchildren. Also, the investment made in covering exceptionally gifted children has borne satisfactory results. According to the School Census, half the students with special needs are enrolled in primary schools, while the remaining 50% are attending schools providing early childhood education, secondary education, youth and adult education and other education levels and programs.

An analysis of the evolution of special education in Brazil in the last few years proves that there has been a gradual, if difficult, effort to replace the paradigm of institutionalization and segregation for education in the regular school network, where attention to student diversity – including students with special education needs – is the focal point for pedagogic actions within the framework of a quality education for all.