100 new units of Federal Institutes to be created in Brazil

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the launch of a plan to create 100 new campuses of the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology (IFS) throughout the country. The initiative will extend to all regions of Brazil and will create 140,000 new jobs.

The government's aim is to increase the number of places in vocational and technological education and to create opportunities for young people and adults, especially the most vulnerable.

"Thanks to investments in education, we can be sure that our country will become a developed country of the first world, a country with a society composed mainly of middle-class people," Lula said.

The New Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC) programme will invest R$3.9 billion (US$784 million) in federal institutions. Of this, R$2.5 billion (US$502.5 million) will be spent on the construction of new campuses, while R$1.4 billion (US$281.5 million) will be spent on the modernisation of existing ones, including the construction of dining halls, gymnasiums, libraries, classrooms and the purchase of equipment.

The campuses will be established in different regions of the country. The Northeast region will receive the largest number of new campuses, with 38 in nine states. This is followed by the Southeast (27 campuses), the South (13 campuses), the North (12 campuses) and the Centre-West (10 campuses). São Paulo will benefit the most, with 12 new campuses. Minas Gerais and Bahia will each get eight campuses. Parana, Rio Grande do Sul and Para will each get five. This is reported by Toda Palavra, a partner of TV BRICS.

Education Minister Camilo Santana explained the criteria for selecting the municipalities where the new campuses will be located. "Firstly, we pay attention to demographic characteristics, the proportion of students receiving technical education in each state and the number of institutes per inhabitant," he said.

Previously, Brazil had only 140 technical schools.