Brazil's government program, University for All, has received support from a total of 32 privately-owned universities even before getting congressional approval. The program provides students of African descent, Indians and low-income families with a place in public, tuition-free universities.
Brazil's Minister of Education, Tarso Genro, said he was pleased with the support and explained that the quota system would be controlled by the government.
The program sets aside 10 percent of vacancies in not-for-profit, private-sector universities for students from families with incomes of up to a minimum wage (US$ 81.30), Negroes, Indians and public school teachers.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has already endorsed the bill creating the University for All Program (Prouni) and has presented it to the members of the National Social Development Council (CNDS) on May 13.
"The President has already given his endorsement to the University for All, which is ready to be submitted to the National Congress," said the presidential Chief of Staff, Minister José Dirceu after a meeting with the Minister of Education, Tarso Genro.
The program will reserve places in private universities for needy students with per capita family incomes of less than one minimum wage, preferibly public school graduates and basic education teachers in the public school system.
Selection will be based on the results of the National Secondary School Examinations (Enem), instead of the usual university entrance exams.
"The project combines two fundamental components, first offering an extraordinary opportunity to basic education teachers and young people from public schools, and, within this, applying the quota system," Genro commented.
Another article included in the bill plans to set the percentage of places for black, mulatto, and native students in accordance with the figures contained in the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics' (IBGE) most recent census.
"This totally eliminates the possibility of self-classification as a member of the black community," he said.
The Prouni will permit private universities, philanthropical or profit-oriented, to prefer to grant these students full scholarships in return for an exemption from taxes for which they are currently liable, such as the Social Security Tax (ISS) and the Social Contribution on Net Profit (CSLL). The Ministry of Education expects that at least 70 thousand openings will be filled.
The institutions that choose to adhere to the Prouni will also guarantee the participation of students enrolled in programs such as Student Credit (Fies).
Minister Genro advised that the project will "separate the wheat from the chaff," compelling phony philanthropical universities to adapt themselves.
"Those institutions that are genuinely philanthropic will have an easy time adjusting, since they will not be making any sacrifices. But the bogus philanthropical ones will not make the adjustment, because they will have to be forthright and will have to change a lot of things," the Minister said.
that's a bunch of CRAP! Those black kids down there are not getting a proper education period!. You all should be ashamed of yourselves!!
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annie written by Guest,
January 13, 2005
it tells alot about equal rights in this country.. And what about the labour market ? What if these 10 % negroes, indians and children from low income families (what race are they ??) have completed their studies ?? There home address (favela) in the job application will knock them out before they can even talk to the personnel manager. Maybe Mr. Lula also should set a law that companies must employ a min. of 10 % minority people. And not only as the servant in the kitchen but according to their university grades, Its cruel to give someone hope and then hit his/her head a few years later..
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OUCH!!!!!! written by Guest,
December 15, 2005
College Quota: 10% for Poor and Blacks.
Since when a poor will get beyond the elementary school?
Since when a black will get beyond the elementary school?
Since when a poor black will get beyond the elementary school?
What the f**k means 10% quota? is that to say that 90% of them will NEVER EVER see a college?
Man, what this shit is? 10%? whay not 9% or 11% for that matter? SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!1
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Not into Quotas. written by Guest,
May 13, 2006
I am not into quotas but I guess this educational program is a start. My concern is that a quota needs to be set. You would have thought that the brightest would be able to rise to the top. Securing an education is key to "boot-strap" economics. But, some businesspersons are still going to have to take these initial graduates under their wing. Porque? Well, if you are 1st generation college or business world, you do not have the resources to draw-upon to know how to act even when you know (or don't know) the solution to a business situation. How to hold yourself. How to submit proposals for projects. Leveraging a network. Using your influence to get things done by others. The list goes on. It requires mentoring. I'd be more than willing to help if the government wanted to contact me. I'd help out of my own pocket.
Viva la Brazil-- Roberto- Chicago acommonthought@aol.com
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The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj).