Analysis

The three levels of government -- federal, state and local -- share the provision of basic schooling in Brazil. Each retains authority over its network of schools. However, the main responsibility for providing basic education long resided with state and municipal governments.

Before the reforms of the 1990s, poor coordination across levels of government, chronically underfunded schools and pervasive politicisation of personnel recruitment and resource allocation were responsible for abysmal educational indicators.

The approval of the Basic Education Law in 1996 allowed the federal government to set national policy guidelines. It improved intra-governmental coordination by attributing clear responsibilities to federal, state and local administrations (see BRAZIL: Public education lags despite reform efforts - July 28, 2008).

Stark regional inequalities in the funding of schooling were tackled by the creation in 1997 of the Fund for Maintenance and Development of Primary Education (FUNDEF). The fund earmarked for primary schooling 60% of selected state and local tax revenues allocated to education. The reforms also obliged the federal government to complement states' budgets where per capita educational expenditures fell below a nationwide minimum.

The government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-10) extended the FUNDEF. The new Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education (FUNDEB) covered all levels of basic education. FUNDEB has been in operation since 2007, but has produced only modest improvements in secondary education (see BRAZIL: Human development index hides disparities - August 14, 2013).

Persistent problems

Despite the rise in enrolments in secondary schools in the last two decades, high drop-out and age/grade-distortion rates remain a concern. The net enrolment rate in secondary education, which considers only those students enrolled in the grade appropriate to their age, was 52% in 2010. Between 1999 and 2011, the proportion of students who dropped out of secondary school more than doubled, to 16.0% from 7.4%.

Politicians, academics and policy experts alike agree that concomitant improvements in the quality of schooling have not followed the expansion of basic education. Teacher absenteeism, poor infrastructure and school curricula detached from students' reality and labour market demands are among the factors that conspire against improved learning. These issues are especially pronounced in secondary education. Youngsters often see school as unattractive or useless.

Both Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula, have failed to address the issue of school curricula. Since 2009, with the introduction of the National Secondary Education Exam (ENEM) as the benchmark, all secondary schools are obliged to cover a wide range of disciplines in a short period of time. This leaves little room for the creation of a more diversified and flexible system that might reduce drop-out rates and improve student achievement.

Expanding higher education

The Lula and Rousseff governments have been more successful in promoting the expansion of higher education:

• Federal universities have received more resources to hire personnel and create new courses, while federal subsidies have benefited private higher education, which accounts for the majority of enrolments.
• These measures have resulted in a steady increase in enrolments in higher education, from 3.9 million in 2003 to more than 7.0 million in 2013.

Despite these impressive results, the expansion of college enrolments faces a clear limit, given low completion rates of secondary education (see BRAZIL: Educational shortfalls are economic obstacle - April 20, 2012).

Gomes challenges

Rousseff started her second term this year by promising to prioritise education reform. She appointed the former governor of Ceara, Cid Gomes, as minister of education. Gomes was chosen not only as one of the president's most loyal allies, but also because of his successful programme designed to improve literacy rates in his home state.

In his first public announcements, the new minister asserted that reforming secondary education curricula was among his top priorities. He has advocated more flexible curricula, which allow students to specialise in maths and hard sciences, or humanities.

Gomes has also indicated that he intends to create a national, yearly test to evaluate teachers' performance:

• This is a politically sensitive issue. Teachers' unions are mostly against standardised evaluations and linking pay to performance. Parties that are part of Rousseff's congressional coalition control some of these unions.
• Gomes, unlike his predecessors over the past twelve years, is not affiliated with the Workers' Party (PT) but to the recently created Party of Social Reform. This could turn out to be an advantage. PT education ministers nominated by Rousseff and Lula have proved reluctant to confront organised interests opposed to education reform, owing to the party's strong roots in public-sector trade unions.

The new minister is a skilful politician, and more qualified to take control of the Education Ministry than most of his predecessors, who lacked the experience or specialised knowledge of education policy.

However, Gomes will have to depend on the government's broad, fragmented and unruly coalition in Congress to approve sweeping policy changes. Rousseff has started her second term facing a serious economic and political crisis -- a combination of the corruption scandal within state oil company Petrobras, low GDP growth and high inflation rates. She is at risk of rapidly becoming a lame duck, lacking the political muscle to push through contentious reforms (see BRAZIL: National protests put government on notice - March 16, 2015).