SP Government to create 33.5 thousand openings in 2010
Valor Econômico
The Government of the State of São Paulo is also expanding the public system of professional education. Without access to the Brasil Profissionalizado (Professionalized Brazil) program of the Federal Government, Geraldo Alckmin, former Governor and current Secretary of State for the Development, State Department in charge of the Paula Souza Center, which manages the technical schools (Etecs) of São Paulo, intends "not to spend a single penny on bricks" and still open 33.5 thousand places in the schools until the end of the year. The strategy is to use the unoccupied classrooms of the State schools and of the Unified Centers of Education (CEUs, in Portuguese), of the municipal administration of São Paulo.
"There are many schools with empty classrooms at night. Last year, we entered into agreements to use such idle capacity of more than 30 schools and 17 CEUs with the Etecs. The important fact is that you don't need to build new building", explains Alckmin, adding that the new courses will be restricted to the service sector. "We will assign teachers of the Paula Souza Center to teach commerce, tourism, information technology, administration, small business management, accounting, courses that require a computer lab at the most".
Making a quick calculation, the former Governor foresees savings of up to R$ 300 million (US$ 159.6 million). "Building and equipping a school for 1.1 thousand students costs nearly from R$ 7 million (US$ 3.7 million) to R$ 8 million (US$ 4.3 million). We are talking about more than 30 schools. The economy may be even bigger, because we don't have to buy land, nor do we need to spend with cleaning, safety; the Etec only provides the teachers".
The goal of the program of expansion of the Toucan Government (as the politicians of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party are called) is to increase the enrollments to 177 thousand students in the technical and regular courses of the Etecs - in São Paulo, the professional education program lasts 18 months and the student must have the diploma or be attending, at the same time, at least the second year of high school. Between 2003 and 2009, the enrolments in the technical courses alone went from 62,514 to 115,529, a growth rate of 85%. Founded in 1969, the Paula Souza Center administered 126 schools in 2006; it is currently responsible for 179.
Besides saving with the increase in the number of students, Alckmin associates the technical schools to the dynamism of the work market. "In one city there is shortage of jobs; in another, there is lack of manpower. The logic is to make a combination; see what the work market needs. We can open a technical school for administration today, but it is not a perennial course. Tomorrow, the microregion may no longer need to train professionals with that profile".