Only 5% of children of unschooled parents complete their higher education in Brazil

The level of schooling of the parents says a lot about the chances of a citizen’s social ascension in Brazil. In a group of 100 people with family members without any schooling, 70 are able at most to complete Elementary and Junior High School, and only between 4 and 5 (or 4.7%) complete higher education. If the parents have a college degree, the children are more likely to follow this path as well.

These data are the study of economist Paulo Tafner, founder and CEO of the recently created Institute for Mobility and Social Development (IMDS). For him, the lack of social mobility in Brazil is a factor in perpetuating poverty, even after years of economic growth and income transfer programs. Basically, it is the difficulty that a child from a poor family has to climb the social pyramid and have access to better salaries.

For Tafner, the biggest problem is in the effectiveness of expenditures. For this reason, the institute intends to sign contracts with city halls, which have the end-contact with the population, to provide technical support in the formulation of policies that help to improve spending on education and health. In the future, action can be taken to propose legal changes so as to lay national foundations for a successful policy. Today, IMDS has four members, including Tafner, and intends to launch scholarships to encourage research on the topic in master’s and doctoral courses.