Brazilian government grants US$250 million for post-pandemic education resumption

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Economy’s External Financing Committee (COFIEX) authorized this week the contracting of a US$250 million loan from the World Bank (IBRD) for the Post-Pandemic Education Recovery Project: “Educa mais Forte Norte e Nordeste.”

The project will be coordinated by the Ministry of Education (MEC). The goal is to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on learning in these Brazilian regions.

In addition, the program aims to strengthen access to early childhood education, promote adequate learning, reduce post-pandemic school dropout rates, provide updated educational management systems, and strengthen the institutional capacity of the federal, state, and municipal governments.

According to Stephanie Gurgel, an educator at the Federal District Health School, the focus on basic education is critical, since children were the most affected by quarantines. “With the pandemic, socialization was removed. So, a greater investment is required due to their social and cognitive losses,” she explains.

A survey by the Rui Barbosa Institute Technical Committee on Education (CTE-IRB) and the Interdisciplinarity and Evidence in Educational Debate (IEDE) shows that 1 in 10 children dropped out of school during the pandemic.

One of the main issues was the lack of technological resources to attend classes, which changed to online. This factor had an impact on schools and teachers, who, in most cases, were unable to provide adequate conditions for students to study from home.

“The government needs to provide conditions for teachers to teach students during the pandemic. Education is not an expense, it is an investment,” Gurgel says.

Brazil’s North and Northeast regions are the most affected by school dropouts. The study also shows that the two regions had the lowest percentage of student attendance during remote education.

THE PROJECT

The amount earmarked for the project will be distributed over 5 years with funds already foreseen in the MEC’s budget.

The program’s structure is divided into two components. The first foresees the allocation of US$200 million to reduce the learning losses generated by the pandemic and to support state and municipal secretariats in implementing programs to expand the coverage of early childhood education, reduce dropout rates, and upgrade management in the North and Northeast.

The second intends to allocate US$50 million for technical assistance to strengthen local execution and implementation of programs, the development of educational management systems, and studies, consultancies, and evaluation of activities.

FUNDING FOR OTHER AREAS

In addition to the Ministry of Education, other areas will contract loans for investments. COFIEX approved the amount of US$1 billion for 13 projects with foreign resources from multilateral banks, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The plan is for these funds to finance initiatives in sectors such as health, transportation, and environmental sustainability.