About Maceio and Alagoas

Escola Estrela do Mar is located in Maceio, a bustling city of around 1 million people (see map below, its near the north-eastern most coast) – it has nice  beaches although reasonably well polluted, but that’s about it. If it wasn’t for the school, this would be a drive-through city for me. Any ideas you might have about Brazil being colourful, playful or musical sadly end here.

Maceio is the capital of one of Brazil’s smallest states – Alagoas. The map below gives you an idea how small this state is relative to other Brazilian states. Unfortunately Alagoas has the enduring reputation of being one of the poorest states and having one of the highest illiteracy rates in Brazil. It’s a tricky thing to measure and the numbers fluctuate a lot depending on when and how illiteracy is defined. But I’ve read enough reports and spoken to people to believe it’s around 29% in Alagoas. Brazil as a whole seems to have an illiteracy rate of around 9%.  Education is free in Brazil as part of a federal government initiative, so why is Alagoas so dramatically different to the rest of the country? I’m still trying to find that out.

(The tiny state of Alagoas in red)

It’s hard to gauge so far whether this problem arises because the children are simply not attending school, or whether the quality of teaching and environment in the public schools is so poor that the children do not have a chance. Attending 4 hours a day of school is normal here since school is divided into morning and afternoon shifts. How much of that 4 hours actually goes into teaching is also not easy to gauge. 

We interviewed some people the other day whose child goes to a public school. They said for most of last year she didn’t go to school. The teachers were either on strike, or the teacher left, but was not replaced. I think that might go some way to explaining it. It’s important to emphasise that other parts of Brazil are doing OK, but Alagoas is not. Having nearly 1/3 of the state being unable to read or write puts them at a tremendous disadvantage in terms of opportunities.

In a sense Estrela do Mar is in the perfect place in Brazil. If there is anywhere in Brazil that needs help with quality education, it’s right here in Maceio, Alagoas.