CARE education in Rio de Janeiro - Carrefour Foundation

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Brazil : Education in the Maré shanty town, Rio de Janeiro

Back to university for all: CARE Brazil is helping 100 young people from the shanty towns of Rio de Janeiro prepare for university entrance exams.

The shanty town of Mare is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro and has 132,000 inhabitants.

By stimulating actions capable of generating revenue, Care endeavours to help people break out of the poverty cycle. The association works in partnership with a local NGO, the Maré Solidarity Centre (CEASM) to implement a school assistance programme whose objective is to give secondary education to 100 young people every year, offering them the chance to pursue their studies in public universities.

Sadly, the Brazilian education system is far from egalitarian: to qualify for entrance to university, every student has to pass a special exam called the vestibular.

Since the public universities are the best, their vestibulares are the toughest. It’s generally students from the wealthy classes, who have attended the best private schools, who manage to pass them.

Students from poorer backgrounds can't afford to attend private secondary schools and have to make do with state schools. But these state schools do not generally equip students with the knowledge they need to pass the vestibular.