HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT FOR BRAZIL - 1996

 

According to the Report, the educational profile in Brazil improved during the last decades. The illiteracy figures were reduced, the number of school enrolments increased, as well as that of the average school year figure, although this is still two years less than in the countries with a per capita income equivalent to that of Brazil and of those Latin American countries in a better situation. The Brazilian educational standard is intermediate by international standards. It varies from 0.83 (Federal District and São Paulo) to 0.54 (Alagoas) and 0.57 (Paraíba). This figure reflects the degree of literacy measures together with the combined enrolments in the three teaching levels. Piauí and Sergipe have the highest repeat rates in the country; Santa Catarina and São Paulo have the lowest (but even these are above the equivalent indices in the countries of average and high HDI).

The best rate of pupils per teachers is that of Rio Grande do Sul (15). The highest is that of Pará (29). In the international standard, this relationship is 25 pupils per teacher in the countries of high HDI, 27 in those with medium HDI, and 45 in the low HDI.

The statistics on graduates in higher education also place Brazil in a good situation, with 3.8% of the population, whereas in countries with high HDI this figure is 2.7; in those of medium HDI it is 2.4; and in the low HDI, 0.3.

The best index is that of the Federal District (11.0), followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.5) and São Paulo (5.7). The lowest rates are from Piauí and Ceará (l.6)

The percentage of the Gross National Product applied by Brazil to education was 3.7% in 1990. (Those countries with high HDI apply 4.0%, but it should be noted that their GNP is much higher.)

Comparing 1960 with 1990, it can be seen that the averge number of years of study of Brazilian men rose from 2.4 to 5.1, while that of women from 1.9 to 4.9 -- a much more favourable evolution.