Education in Brazil underwent multiple phases: it first began with Jesuit missions, that controlled education for a long time; then, two hundred years after their arrival, the Jesuits' powers were limited by the Marquis of Pombal; shortly after that, the Brazilian government took over education, which is now run by the government through the Ministry of Education.
Issues in education are now seen through PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, and the Idep assessment now used by the Ministry. They have historically tested below average on all topics but are improving in mathematics.
Brazil uses both public and private school systems. They have the traditional primary, secondary, tertiary and technical school levels.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Brazil is doing 86.8% of what should be possible at its level of income for the right to education.
History
When Portuguese explorers arrived in Brazil in the 16th century and started to colonize their new possessions in the New World, the territory was inhabited by indigenous peoples and tribes who had no writing system or school education.
The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was, since its beginnings in 1540, a missionary order. Evangelisation was one of the main goals of the Jesuits and they were committed to teaching and education, in Europe and overseas. The missionary activities, in the cities and in the countryside, were complemented by a strong commitment to education. This took the form of the opening of schools for boys, first in Europe but rapidly extended to America and Asia. The first elementary school in Brazil was founded by the Jesuits in what is now the city of Salvador, Bahia, and they established several others as well as high schools throughout the 1500s. These schools were primarily located in the more coastal regions of Brazil, as those had the largest colonial populations. The foundation of Catholic missions, schools, and seminaries was another consequence of the Jesuit involvement in education. As the spaces and cultures where the Jesuits were present varied considerably, their evangelising methods were very often quite different from one place to another. However, the society's engagement in trade, architecture, science, literature, languages, arts, music and religious debate corresponded to the same main purpose of Christianisation. By the middle of the 16th century, the Jesuits were present in West Africa, South America, Ethiopia, India, China, and Japan. This enlargement of their missionary activities took shape to a large extent within the framework of the Portuguese Empire.
In a period when the world had a largely illiterate population, the Portuguese Empire was home to one of the first universities founded in Europe — the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation. Throughout the centuries of Portuguese rule, Brazilian students, mostly graduated of the Jesuit missions and seminaries, were allowed to enroll at higher education in mainland Portugal.
The Jesuits, a religious order founded to promote the cause and teachings of Catholicism, had gained influence with the Portuguese crown and over education, and had begun missionary work in Portugal's overseas possessions, including the colony of Brazil. By 1700, and reflecting a larger transformation of the Portuguese Empire, the Jesuits had decisively shifted from the East Indies to Brazil. In the late 18th century, Portuguese minister of the kingdom, the Marquis of Pombal, attacked the power of the privileged nobility and the church, and expelled the Jesuits from Portugal and its overseas possessions. Pombal seized the Jesuit schools and introduced education reforms all over the empire. In Brazil, the reforms were noted. Following the expulsion of Jesuits from Brazil, education was primarily left to remaining religious organizations and military institutions, which developed to protect Portuguese interests in the area following the discovery of gold.
In 1772, before the establishment of the Science Academy of Lisbon (1779), one of the first learned societies of Brazil and the Portuguese Empire was founded in Rio de Janeiro: the Sociedade Scientifica. In 1797, the first botanic institute was founded in Salvador, Bahia. During the late 18th century, the Escola Politécnica (Polytechnic School) was created, then the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho (Royal Academy for Artillery, Fortifications and Design) was created in Rio de Janeiro, 1792, through a decree issued by the Portuguese authorities as a higher education school for the teaching of the sciences and engineering. Its legacy is shared by the Instituto Militar de Engenharia (Military Engineering Institute) and the Escola Politécnica da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Polytechnic School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) — the oldest engineering school of Brazil and one of the oldest in the world.
A royal letter of 20 November 1800 by the king John VI of Portugal established the Aula Prática de Desenho e Figura (Practical Class for Design and Form) in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first institution in Brazil systematically dedicated to the teaching of arts. During colonial times, the arts were mainly religious or utilitarian and were learnt in a system of apprenticeship. A decree on 12 August 1816 created the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios (Royal School of Sciences, Arts and Crafts), which established an official education in the fine arts and built the foundations of the current Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (National School of Fine Arts).
In the 19th century, the Portuguese royal family, headed by then prince regent John, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal in 1807. John VI gave impetus to the expansion of European civilization to Brazil. The presence of the monarchy in Brazil encouraged the development of more formal educational institutions. In the short period between 1808 and 1810, the Portuguese government founded the Academia Real dos Guardas-Marinhas (Royal Naval Academy), the Real Academia Militar (Royal Military Academy), the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library of Brazil), the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden), the Academia Médico-Cirúrgica da Bahia (Medic-Cirurgical Academy of Bahia), now known as Faculdade de Medicina (Med School) in the Universidade Federal da Bahia (Federal University of Bahia) and the Academia Médico-Cirúrgica do Rio de Janeiro (Medic-Cirurgical Academy of Rio de Janeiro) which is now the medical school of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil achieved independence in 1822. During the period of the Brazilian empire, the government did guarantee primary education to all Brazilians. However, this largely excluded enslaved people and indigenous people. Additionally, the established educational system was largely unable to serve the entire country, given the lack of resources and large size of Brazil. The first public secondary school was established in Rio de Janeiro in 1837, the Imperial Colégio de Pedro II, and served as both a day school as well as a boarding school. Other public secondary schools followed under a similar structure. Despite being public schools, the student bodies were predominately made up of economically well-off white men. Until the 20th century, it was a large rural nation with low social and economic standards comparing to the average North American and European standards. Its economy was based on the primary sector, possessing an unskilled and increasingly larger workforce, composed of free people (including slave owners) and slaves or their direct descendants. Among the first law schools founded in Brazil were the ones in Recife and São Paulo in 1827. But for decades to come, most Brazilian lawyers studied at European universities, such as in the ancient University of Coimbra, in Portugal, which had awarded degrees to generations of Brazilian students since the 16th century.
In 1872 there were 9,930,478 inhabitants (84.8% free and 15.2% slaves). According to the national census made in that year, among the free inhabitants (8,419,672 people), 38% were white, 39% were mixed race and 11% were black. Only 23.4% of the free men and 13.4% of the free women could read and write. In 1889, six decades after independence, only 20% of the total population could read and write. In the former colonial power, Portugal, about 80% of the population was classified as illiterate.
Following the creation of the First Republic, the Ministry of Education, Post, and Telegraph was established. Previous thought on education tended to emphasize humanities-centric curriculums, however the educational legislation from this era focused on creating curriculums that centered on science and mathematics. Additionally, preparatory exams for secondary and tertiary education began to be widely used during the First Republic era. These exams were used to gauge a students preparedness for a certain course or subject. Education during this period continued to be mostly inaccessible to the black population of Brazil, due to the variety of socio-economic pressures they faced despite the abolition of slavery.
With the massive post-war expansion that lasts to date, the government focused on strengthening Brazil's tertiary education, while simultaneously neglecting assistance to primary and secondary education. The problems of primary and secondary education were compounded by significant quality differences across regions, with the northeast suffering dramatically.Ralph Harbison and Eric Hanushek, Educational performance of the poor: lessons from rural northeast Brazil (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992). In the aftermath of Brazilian military rule, education became seen as a way to create a fairer society. "Citizen schools" emerged, designed to promote critical thinking, incorporation of marginalized people, and curiosity (over rote memorization and obedience).Ignoramuses Academy, 2016 Education also became more standardized during and immediately following the World War II era, regulating the length of each level of schooling and the content of lessons, as well as outlining the requirements for becoming a primary school teacher. However, only about 16% of secondary school educators actually held degrees. Additionally, vocational secondary was emphasized as an option for lower-income students. During the period of economic growth around the 1950s, education in Brazil also became more accessible to lower-income people, with the numbers of students in both primary and secondary education significantly increasing.
Today, Brazil struggles to improve the public education offered at earlier stages and maintain the high standards that the population has come to expect from public universities. The choice on public funding is an issue. In particular, the U.N. Development Goal of Universal Primary Education and a larger offer of education for students with special needs are pursued by Brazilian policy-makers.
Despite its shortcomings, Brazil has progressed substantially since the 1980s. The nation witnessed an increase in school enrollment for children age 7–14, from 80.9% in 1980 to 96.4% in the year 2000. In the 15–17 age demographic, in the same period, this rate rose from 49.7% to 83%. Literacy rates rose from 75% to 90.0%.
Voting has been mandatory for all citizens of Brazil since the first Constitution of 1824. However, people who are illiterate have, historically, not been able to be registered to vote. The Constitution of 1988 changed this, stating that those who are illiterate have the option to vote but it is not compulsory for those. The Constitution of 1824 also stated that those who made less than 100,000 reis were not able to vote.