Educational crisis
The history
Billions of people are enjoying way better standards of living nowadays compared to the generations that lived only 50 to 100 years ago. Therefore, the progress most nations have achieved in the last couple of centuries is unprecedented.
This huge improvement on the standards of living of humanity can be correlated to gains in productivity and to its direct results: more and cheaper means of production (machines, equipment, tools), leading, because of that, to a variety of products for every taste and pocket, allowing people to enjoy more time, leisure and comfort.
One of the main reasons for this impressive progress is knowledge.
More knowledge leads to better ways in doing things, to innovation, to the creation of wealth.
The bad news
Unfortunately, the world is experiencing in the last decades a halt and even a step back in one of the most important sources of knowledge: education.
When compared to its own educational data most countries’ education systems are failing. Each new evaluation results are worse than the previous one.
Brazil is one of the bad examples. Each year the public school system spends more money and gets worse results.
That’s a huge crisis! One of these crises that can put a whole country down the ladder.
Understanding the problem
Check out some data on reading habits in Brazil (Instituto Pro-Livro and IBOPE):
%
of the students don’t read on a regular basis
%
of the students have never been given a book
Only 1 in 4 Brazilians is fully literate: reading, writing and math.
THERE ARE ALMOST 150 MILLION ILLITERATE PEOPLE IN BRAZIL!
The good news!
There is hope!
What if the current generation of poor students could, almost magically, become passionate about reading?
YES! It is happening now and with your kind help we can continue on this path and do even more.
By handing brand new literature books, full of adventures, fun and amusement to each and every student attending the selected public schools, our Program connects them to a world where learning is fun, changing their lives forever.
The school hours gain a new meaning for the student. A whole world of opportunities starts to be perceived by the student and a bright new future can actually happen.
“Being able to read is very important because if you do not know how to read, you are not going anywhere. I want to go to college… I want to be a veterinarian!”
Kelle got the books “The Frog” by Hans Christian Andersen and “The King of the Lost Castle” by Mauricio de Sousa and Ziraldo. She liked the “little king” very much and read it so many times that she’s even memorized some lines!
She read the books to her cousins and her sister.
Since she knew the story very well, we asked her to tell us in her own words. And she did it with mastery.
Marlon and his family lives in Barra Longa, one of the towns recently devastated when a dam collapsed.
Her mom works as a made and his father is a farm worker.
“He went nuts with the books! He is really, really happy. We would never imagine how mach joy a couple of books could bring to our home”, told us Marlon’s mother.
The family gets together every night to read the books. “It’s now an every day habit for all of us”, says mom.
- Every student gets two brand new books 100%
- The books belong to the student, not to the school 100%
- The books are all different, allowing for the kids to exchange them amongst themselves 100%
- Every book has a unique ID, allowing for tracking progress and feedback 100%
Recipe for success
The “secrets” for a successful program are planning, acting on it, monitoring, learning and improving.
The programs and projects we are involved accomplish all that. We need your help though, to continue doing good work.
Give the Gift of Learning
You will be helping us to provide the means in which students in Brazil could thrive.
