#NEWS : Education deficit major obstacle to sustained growth in Brazil

Among the commitments in her election manifesto, she promised to raise the national wage floor for all teachers and strengthen continuous teacher training programs to achieve higher educational standards at all levels.

She also made the commitment to expand the number of Federal Institutions for Technological Education all over Brazil, and to establish at least one technical school in cities with over 50,000 inhabitants.

The ProUni program, which provides scholarships to more than 700,000 low-income students to study at private universities, will also be expanded.

In addition, Rousseff said her government will promote broad mobilization, involving public authorities and civil society, to eradicate illiteracy.

According to Brazil's Minister of Strategic Affairs, Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes, who coordinated a study on the challenges that the South American country will face up to 2022, when the bicentenary of independence will be celebrated, the shortage of skilled labor is one of the biggest obstacles to its economic growth and urgent steps should be taken to resolve it.

He explained that it is necessary to expand training programs, especially for engineers, and if necessary, import skilled labor.

"First of all, we need to expand the training of engineers. There is no economic development without engineering. We need to give special emphasis to the training of mathematics teachers. Secondly, we need full-time education, and thirdly, we have to strengthen engineering schools and art institutes," Guimaraes told Xinhua.

In 2008, out of all university graduates, only 5.1 percent corresponded to engineers and 5.9 percent to scientists and mathematicians, while 27 percent graduated in social sciences and law.

Overall, the strategy to reverse this deficit is focused on three fronts: increasing the rates of completion of basic education, expanding the supply of vacancies in higher education institutions, and expanding the access of youngsters from low-income families to private universities.

Current Education Minister Fernando Haddad, who is expected to remain in office in the next government, presented a proposal suggesting that the new PNE should set an investment target of 7 percent of GDP in the area, two points above the current 5 percent.

The PNE 2001-2010, which expires at the end of the year, also set a goal of 7 percent, and experts say that lack of compliance with that commitment played an important role in Brazil's difficulties to achieve many of its 295 targets.

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