Brazil: Getting Children Back to School

The streets in Terra Dura are unpaved. The air is full of dust when cars pass by. The small houses don’t have running water. For the most part, its residents work as maids, vendors on the beach or are unemployed.

But the children of this poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the beautiful resort of Aracaju are in school -- or back in school. Less than a year ago, many of them were picking up garbage in the city dump, or carrying heavy loads of fruit and vegetables at the street markets.

Thanks, however, to the ambitious Program to Eradicate Child Labor (PETI), this has changed. The Ministry of Welfare and Social Assistance developed the program with the objective of eliminating existing cases of child labor. Its main goal is to make children not only attend public school for the regular four hours, but study and learn an average of three to four hours more on extended shift.

In order to ensure that these children are protected from being forced to work, the government rewards their families with so-called "Bolsa-Escola." It is a stipend given to poor families in exchange for their children going to school instead of having to work to help maintain the family.

The government ruled that families earning up to half the minimum wage of 120 Reais ($40) are entitled to Bolsa-Escola. In exchange, they must make sure their children aged between seven and 14 keep attending school, as well as an after-school program.

These families receive an average of 90 Reais ($30) every month. That is about the price of what Brazilians call "Cesta Basica," or a basket big enough to maintain a family of four for a month. It includes basic groceries like rice, beans and milk.

The non-governmental organization Missão Criança provides the classes in Terra Dura, with the logistical and financial support of UNICEF, Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras and a local firm.

Children play basketball, Brazil

Besides the usual fare of grammar, math, sciences and history, the children also have extra-curricular activities on the extended shift. These include classes in music, theater, sports, arts and crafts, as well as Capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian mix of dance and martial arts.

Cristavao Buarque, the creator of Bolsa-Escola in 1996 and now the Minister of Education, says that the program is based on a very simple premise: if children do not study regularly because they have to work, then they will stop working and go to school if they or their families have the necessary funds.

And this is true. "We had many cases of kids and families that we helped out of the city dump," says Maria Lucy Silva, coordinator of Missão Criança in Sergipe. "Since we pay Bolsa-Escola, we can watch them closely, giving their families an occupation, and keeping the kids busy, so they don’t go back to child labor."

The program does not focus only on the children, either. Parents are also trained and participate in a range of activities, which help teach those who are illiterate how to read and write, as well as lectures and debates about human rights, sexuality and domestic violence. They also receive psychological assistance and attend professional workshops, where they learn new skills and ways of making money.

On the coast of Sergipe, UNICEF supports another project: "Bau de Leituras", or "trunk of readings." Terra Caida -- or "Fallen Land" -- is located at the tip of the state, bordering Bahia. The village of 8,000 people is in a crisis. Its population’s main source of income, fishing, is dwindling. The Manguezal, or wetlands, where fish and crustaceans reproduce, is disappearing.

A boy in art class, Brazil

But Bau de Leituras is helping the next generation gain a new perspective on things. "Bau de Leituras is a project that aims to awaken the pleasure of reading in children," says Simone Ferreira Peixoto from the NGO that provides the program. In Sergipe, the trunk is made of leather and carries 15 titles, three of each. "The children have access to it, they can touch a brand-new book, they can smell it. In many cases, they don’t even have this kind of contact with books at school."

Ginaldo Custodio Lessa is a teacher working with Bau de Leituras in Terra Caida, where he was born and raised. "We’re developing a very beautiful project," says Lessa. "After reading a book about the environment, the kids interviewed their parents and other residents of the village. Through these interviews, we compared the situation we see today to that which people remember from 20 years ago. And the children found that there’s a huge difference."

Lessa says that his students’ research revealed what happened with the village and the experience has changed their attitudes. "I’m helping these children to be conscious of our impact on the environment. Today, they know the importance of preservation."

An important aspect of the Bau de Leituras is also the preservation of local cultures and way of life.

"For us, it’s important that the kids want to be fishermen, so that they will not need to leave the village," says Peixoto. "They will work with the potential and vocations that the community offers, but with the advantage that they will do it with more conscience, in a different way from how their parents and grandparents used to work."

The World Bank and UNICEF have both praised Bolsa-Escola and PETI. The experience in Sergipe is an encouraging demonstration of the power of education.

"It is beautiful to see these children believing they have the strength of the size of the world," says Lessa. "Sometimes I don’t expect that, considering all the daily struggles they have to go through, but their minds can produce so many beautiful things."