Starting Over: Brazil Since 1985

4. Sustaining Social Progress

87 4 Sustaining Social Progress The New Republic faced an inherited social debt. Prior Brazilian economic growth led to only marginal gains in education , health, and old age security. Advances occurred, but almost always, they were skewed in favor of the well situated. As a single indicator, the high degree of Brazilian inequality stands out. Earlier policy had not compensated for the sometimes harsh outcomes of the marketplace. The Constitution of 1988, as promulgated, was unequivocal in its commitment to social progress. Implementation was another matter. Only after economic issues began to be resolved after 1994 could progress be made. Expenditures for education and health mounted, but quality of services has remained a problem. Old age pensions have expanded but not in an equalizing manner. On a happier note, Bolsa Família has had success in attacking poverty, and movement toward greater equality has become regular. These advances date to the administrations of Cardoso and Lula. They happened despite differences between those preferring outright intervention and those favoring greater efficiency. In the recent electoral campaign, one could note evolving substantive convergence. Stabilizing social progress has begun to occur. Successive sections in this chapter treat education, health, social security pensions, and poverty and inequality. 04-2143-7 chap4.indd 87 6/1/11 3:19 PM 88 Sustaining Social Progress Education Brazil confronts a need to move toward quality universal elementary and secondary education. Not only is it necessary to ensure continuing gains in productivity in the years ahead, but such an extension will alleviate the high degree of inequality and begin to eliminate poverty. Few countries have successfully transformed without educational advance. Primary Schooling In the two decades subsequent to 1980, close to 15 million additional students were enrolled in primary schools; up to the end of 1994, more than 9 million gained entry, an increase of 40 percent over previous levels . Higher rates of enrollment, not prior demographic changes, explain more than three quarters of this increase. Table 4-1 illustrates this change over time. By the turn of the century, Brazil received a UNESCO award for achieving full attendance for those aged 7–14. Primary school enrollment increased faster after 1985 than before. Increased state and municipal expenditure was responsible for almost all that gain. The federal connection came through ancillary programs such as provision of supplementary meals within schools, distribution of textbooks and materials, and, most important, direct transfer of resources. The Calmon Amendment specified an allocation of 13 percent of federal tax receipts to states and municipalities; these units were to spend a quarter of the funds for education. In the Constitution of 1988, the federal contribution rose to 18 percent. Those obligations entered into place gradually, and they were not entirely satisfied; intended transfers occasionally were diverted to other ends. Brazil confronted two principal problems in achieving universal primary education. One was regional differences; the other was grade repetition . The first of these factors led to a low national attendance rate when dissimilar results in the northeast and the south were combined. That was good reason for increasing federal transfers since they were predominantly allocated to the northeast.1 Grade repetition, the second factor, yielded high gross enrollment rates, even exceeding 100 percent, when the total number of primary school students was divided by the relevant group aged seven through fourteen; however, relatively few students , typically from better-off families, advanced in a continuous progression and concluded their education. 04-2143-7 chap4.indd 88 6/1/11 3:19 PM Sustaining Social Advance   89 Figure 4-1 shows, for a series of years, how these two features affected attendance in the entry-level grades. Net enrollment (including only those of the relevant age for the grade) in the south and southeast in 1981 is above 80 percent, while age-grade distortion in the fourth year is about 30 percent.2 For the northeast, the record is far inferior, beginning with a net enrollment of less than 60 percent, with an age-grade distortion of similar magnitude. Note the regional evolution over the period: the northeast shows large increases in net enrollment while the degree of grade repetition hardly changes. The same comparative conclusion is valid for grades 5–8. Costs were considerable: effective charges per year of education attained were 40 percent greater than the nominal levels due to average repetition rates of a third and more reported in table 4-1...