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R 131823Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3785
INFO RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9233
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3714
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7425
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BRASILIA 000310 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR WHA/PD-PETERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL ECON PREL PGOV BR
SUBJECT: Supporting Educational Improvements in Brazil: Public Affairs Best Practice Programs 

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SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGTLY. 

¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Several international comparative measures demonstrate that Brazil's education system lags behind that of most of its Latin American neighbors, global competitors such as the BRIC countries, and more developed countries, which is causing a shortage of skilled labor and could be a drag on Brazil's efforts to reduce poverty and inequality. Brazil's Ministry of Education has formulated ambitious plans to improve the quality of public school education, but only time will tell how successful these efforts will be in the long run. Both as a way of supporting improvement to education in Brazil and to meet our goal of reaching out to younger and disadvantaged audiences, Post has developed several "best practice" educational programs. Post is also identifying new ideas for programs and is seeking creative ways to implement these ideas given budget and human resource constraints. END SUMMARY. 

Why Brazil Needs to Improve Public Education: It's An Economic Necessity 

¶2. (U) A long history of educational neglect in Brazil results today in a severe shortage of skilled labor and persons with university degrees, particularly in the area of engineering and science, and is a factor in preventing Brazil from reaching many development goals. The lack of skilled labor is so severe that many large Brazilian companies are opening their own training and educational centers to train workers in the skills they need to run their companies. The U.S.- Brazilian CEO Forum has designated technical and English language training as one of their priorities for cooperative action because the need for training is so great. Although Brazil has made incredible progress in recent years in reducing poverty and moving an estimated 20 million people into the middle class through steady growth and innovative social programs such as "Bolsa Familia", until it provides all of its citizens with quality educational opportunities, it will be very difficult to make significant progress in further reducing poverty and inequality. Of course, the current economic crisis could hinder progress as well. 

¶3. (U) According to OECD educational statistics from 2008, only 8 per cent of Brazilians aged 25-34 had completed university-level education, and only 13 per cent of Brazil's university graduates obtained degrees in science and science-related fields such as engineering and computing, almost half the OECD average of 24 per cent. In math, reading and science proficiency among 15-year-olds as measured by 2006 OECD statistics on 57 countries, Brazil ranked only 54th in math, 50th in reading, and 52nd in science, behind Latin American neighbors Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico in all three areas. In terms of overall literacy, among BRIC countries, only India's literacy rate is lower at 61 per cent, with Brazil's rate 89 per cent, while China's is 91 per cent and Russia's is 99 per cent. Compared to its South American neighbors, only Peru's and Bolivia's literacy rates are lower. An encouraging sign, however, is that among young people ages 18-24, illiteracy fell from 3.6 per cent in 2002 to 2.2 per cent today, which bodes well for the literacy rate steadily increasing in the future. Another bright spot is that younger people are staying in school, perhaps because school attendance is a requirement for families with children to receive "Bolsa Familia" benefits. In 2007, 97.6 per cent of children ages 7-14 were enrolled in schools, versus 86.6 per cent in 1992, and for children ages 15-17, the rise is even more dramatic - 82.1 per cent were enrolled in school in 2007 versus just 59.7 per cent in 1992. 

¶4. (SBU) A cruel paradox that hinders educational opportunity is the fact that the free, public education at the primary and secondary levels is of such poor quality that parents who can afford to almost always send their children to private schools. Free, high-quality tertiary education is available through Brazil's public universities, but the entrance exam scores needed to enter these universities almost require private school preparation. So the rich invest heavily in their children's primary and secondary education so that their child can enter a free public university, while the poor receive poor quality primary and secondary education, leaving them little chance of entering a free university and with little means to pay for a private university education. Recently there have been some attempts to remedy the situation in various ways, for example by establishing quotas based on race for some federal university entrances, given that Afro-Brazilians are extremely under-represented in federal universities, but these have been controversial. In November of 2008, the Chamber of Deputies, the lower chamber of Brazil's Congress, approved a bill that reserves to public high school students 50 per cent of the slots offered by public universities (25 per cent based on race and 25 per cent based on socio-economic background). This bill is currently under discussion in Brazil's Senate and, if approved, the universities will have four years to implement it. The bill is also highly controversial with arguments swirling over quality of education vs. the quantity of spaces offered to the disadvantaged. Brazil's Ambitious Goals For Improving Public Education 

¶5. (U) Brazilian Education Minister Fernando Haddad has set ambitious goals for improving public education in Brazil and 

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launched an Educational Development Plan, known as the PDE by its Brazilian acronym, which aims to have Brazil's education system on par with developed countries by 2021 through 40 different areas of action. It includes an evaluation of children ages six to eight to catch reading problems early so they do not hinder future education, as well as literacy programs for older children and adults. Other measures planned include establishing a national minimum teacher salary, getting more computers into classrooms, improving electricity access in public schools, improving transportation to/from schools, and better teacher training to address the problem of poorly qualified teachers, some of whom are barely literate themselves. The program identifies poorly performing schools and provides funding, professional expertise and management tools associated with monitoring and evaluation. In 2007, the Ministry of Education established the Brazilian Index for the Development of Basic Education, or IDEB, an indicator that measures the quality of education through a combination of grade fluctuation and student's performance in exams. The Ministry of Education has developed a target plan for bi-annual performance of Brazilian schools based on the IDEB through 2022. Using data from 2005 as the base year, the IDEB national average was 3.8 on a scale of 1-10 in 2005 and grew to 4.2 in 2007, surpassing the target of 3.9 for that year and already reaching the goal for 2009. If it continues improvements at this pace, Brazil should reach its goal of 6.0 by 2022, which is the current average of 30 developed country members of the OECD. 

¶6. (SBU) According to Brazilian Educational Consultant Heloisa Luck, accountability is one of the most important features of the PDE, which publicizes educational results in the media so that "parents and society as a whole are stimulated to play an active role in a national movement for the improvement of education in Brazilian schools." Mariana Migliari, International Affairs Advisor to Brazil's National Council of State Secretaries of Education (CONSED), pointed out to post that each Brazilian state has to make its own implementation plan for the PDE, and that a problem is that "some states are better equipped to analyze what is needed in terms of identifying appropriate projects." Overall, Migliari believes, however, that implementation of the PDE is going well and offers states "good opportunities to improve education and the federal government better control of how educational funds are spent." Both Luck and Migliari agree that some of the biggest challenges to pre-university public education are poor teacher training, low teacher salaries, and lack of accountability among teachers and school principals as evidenced by how difficult it is to fire a teacher or principal. Yet as Luck pointed out, "For the first time, we have a program geared to the development of an accountability culture in our schools and educational systems. However, it will take some time until people who work in education adopt as their own such practices." 

¶7. (SBU) Another aspect of the PDE is a dramatic reform of vocational/technical education, which has just been approved by the Brazilian government and which consolidates existing federal vocational/technical schools and increases spaces at these schools from 215,000 to 500,000. These schools will specialize in scientific and technical education with half of the spaces allotted for technical education integrated with secondary education, 30 per cent of spaces allotted for bachelor's degrees in engineering and other technical fields, and 20 per cent of spaces allotted for teacher certification in the natural sciences and other technical fields which, according to Marcia Moreschi, Senior Advisor for vocational/technical education at the Ministry of Education, is aimed at addressing Brazil's severe shortage of qualified teachers in math and science. According to Moreschi, providing teacher training in this area is one way that these technical schools differ from U.S. community colleges and technical schools. Moreschi also pointed out to post that these schools aim to cater to both "the adult already in the job market, with no qualifications, and the youth who needs qualifications to enter the job market," and that the reorganization of these schools also aims to better tailor educational programs to the current needs of the economy and job market. Mission Brazil's "Best Practice" Education Programs: Reaching the Young and Disadvantaged 

¶8. (SBU) Over the last several years, Mission Brazil's Public Affairs Section has attempted through its programs to support educational reform in Brazil as a way of fulfilling the Department's overall public diplomacy goal of improving outreach to younger and disadvantaged audiences. One of post's MSP's goals is "Developing Human Capital and Promoting Partnership," and beginning with this fiscal year post chose as targets in meeting this goal measures such as Brazil meeting its target scores for the IDEB, increasing the pool of technically and English-language qualified workers, expanding joint and cooperative research activities, and implementing programs under the Joint Action Plan for Racial and Ethnic Equality (JAPRE), which is discussed in more detail below. Post's educational programs also seek to highlight good examples of educational improvement efforts and provide opportunities for those 

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involved to expand their knowledge, often through exchanges with the U.S., and thereby stimulate others to seek excellence and quality in education - i.e. the multiplier effect. Post is also using new technology and social media to continue to engage with participants in our programs. The following is a list of post-designed programs that post believes are "best practices" in achieving these goals. This list is limited to those programs that specifically involve public secondary and vocational/technical education in Brazil. A future cable will focus on other "best practice" programs in university education and other areas. 

¶9. (SBU) Youth Ambassador Exchange Program: When former Ambassador to Brazil Donna Hrinak saw television images of young people from Venezuela burning American flags, she called a meeting with PAS to discuss developing a program to better acquaint Brazilian youth with the U.S. to prevent such actions from ever occurring in Brazil. The resulting brainstorming gave birth to the Youth Ambassador Program, which in 2006 became a recognized WHA best practice model program and in 2007 began to be replicated in other Latin American countries. This program is our most popular and best known program in Brazil, bar none. The first Youth Ambassadors traveled to the US in 2003 and now 35 students are chosen annually from an applicant pool of about 3,000. Students travel to the US for a two-week, life-changing exchange program, with one week spent in Washington, DC together as a group and the second week the students are split up into smaller groups and they spend one week living with an American family and attending an American high school in various parts of the US, during which time they act as "ambassadors" for Brazil. The participants must attend a Brazilian public high school, be 15-18 years old, have excellent grades, speak good English, have leadership potential and be involved in community service activities. To implement the program, Post works in partnership with the National Council of State Secretaries for Education (CONSED), Bi-National Centers, the Brazilian Ministry of Education, and various U.S. and Brazilian corporate sponsors. The program generates significant positive press each year - the send-off for the 2009 Youth Ambassadors resulted in over 30 articles in newspapers and magazines, two television interviews with Embassy officials and Youth Ambassadors and several short television news items with images, and a four-minute special on Brazil's number one Sunday evening entertainment and variety show. It is worth noting that when the program first began, many Brazilians told Post they thought we would have a very difficult time finding public high school students who met the requirements of the program. Instead, post has been overwhelmed with qualified applicants to the program, demonstrating that there are many outstanding, self-starting students in Brazil's public high schools who need to be provided more opportunities like the Youth Ambassador Program in order to reach their full potential. 

¶10. (U) Youth Ambassador Follow-up Activities: As with all exchange programs, post's contact with Youth Ambassadors does not end with the exchange program. Through the assistance of the network of the Fulbright Commission and Education Advising Offices in Brazil, post has assisted Youth Ambassadors with ECA Opportunity Grants to assist them with applying for university education in the U.S., as well as with obtaining scholarships for short-term study and for undergraduate degree programs. Youth Ambassador alumni have received full or near full scholarships to top-notch U.S. universities, such as Stanford, the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and others. In 2008 alone, the total amount of scholarships offered to former Youth Ambassadors to study in the US surpassed Dols 1.6 million. Also, in May of 2007, post signed an agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil to assist with identifying internship and job opportunities for former Youth Ambassadors. Finally, the Ambassador regularly meets with Youth Ambassadors when he travels, and Youth Ambassadors are often invited to speak at Embassy-sponsored events and write articles for the Embassy's alumni newsletter about their experiences and current activities. The Youth Ambassadors have also formed their own alumni association, which they plan to register officially. Last year they organized relief assistance for flooding in southern Brazil and they plan to organize programs focusing on youth empowerment and employment. 

¶11. (U) English Immersion Program: Due to the overwhelming excess of highly qualified applicants for our Youth Ambassador Program, post, in partnership with several bi-national centers, created the "English Immersion USA" program in 2006. The week-long program offers approximately 100-150 runners-up in the Youth Ambassador selection process an immersion experience in the English Language and U.S. culture. The program, conducted each July, includes classes on such topics as U.S. history, clture, society, geography, government, English Language, etc. Students also participate in U.S. sports activities, such as baseball games, eat U.S. style food, and upon conclusion of the program, take part in a "4th of July" style picnic, and receive certificates of completion. Over 235 students have participated in the program to date and 92 are slated to participate in July of 2009. Grants are provided to the BNCs to 

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implement the program and provide most of the classes, though Post sends at least one officer to each program to also take part and teach a class or two. Post also assists the BNCs with recruiting locally resident Americans to serve as volunteer teachers and sports instructors for the program. Recent immersion program participants have said the following about the program: "English Immersion USA is a new and fun way of learning English" and "The Embassy provided me with a unique opportunity for academic growth, at the same time as it allowed me the opportunity to make several new friends from all over Brazil." 

¶12. (SBU) Fulbright Public School Principals Exchange: As part of Brazil's National Award for Excellence in School Management and Leadership, post has since 1999 sent winners of the award from each of Brazil's 26 states plus the Federal District to the U.S. for a two-week exchange program. This awards program has become the most important self-evaluation tool used by Brazilian public schools, and the exchange program aspect of the prize is a huge motivator. Brazil's award is a result of a Voluntary Visitor program and was partially modeled after the U.S. "Principal of the Year" program. It is an initiative of CONSED, which is also a key partner in the Youth Ambassador program. Several state secretaries of education who had participated in Voluntary Visitor programs learned about the U.S. Principal of the Year program and decided to create something similar for Brazil. The awarded schools receive some extra financial support, educational materials, and a certificate of excellence. They are also highlighted in their communities and in the media for their innovation and success and serve as models for other schools. According to Luck, who serves as a consultant to CONSED for this program, the public recognition these schools receive is one of the most important aspects of their continued success - as she put it, once they get the award, they realize they cannot go backwards, as their communities and surrounding schools are now watching them more closely. Luck explained also that the schools must perform a "self-evaluation" process in order to apply for the program, which really helps them to assess where they are and how to improve, and builds continual assessment into their normal program. Luck added that the exchange "changes these principals' lives forever," especially as most of them have never before left Brazil. Post began initially by funding this exchange through Voluntary Visitor and other post funds, but in 2003 the Fulbright Teacher Exchange office took over most of the funding of the program, which is also partially funded by Post and CONSED, and, in 2004, added a reverse program that has since brought groups of award-winning U.S. principals for a similar program in Brazil, during which they provide regional seminars on excellence in school management and leadership. The program has also been the subject of three publications distributed to 74,000 Brazilian public schools and an article in a book published by CONSED on challenges in Brazilian public education. 

¶13. (U) U.S. - Brazil Partnership for the Strengthening of Vocational/Technical Education (Voc/Tech): As a result of the Government of Brazil's request for support to strengthen the country's workforce development program, the U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Section in Brazil and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) received funding from USAID's EGAT FY 07 Matching Grants Program for a three-year partnership between Brazil and the United States to support Brazilian efforts to elevate national and state, public and private dialogue on postsecondary education and workforce development in Brazil. The Partnership promotes the exchange and collaboration of vocational education professionals among educational institutions in both countries. The various activities include: a) The development of a comprehensive and practical study on U.S. and Brazilian vocational and technological education, on the current legislation in the field of vocational education, major accomplishments, challenges and future plans. Through this initial research and analysis, two emerging themes of common interest were identified for the initial phase of the partnership: (1) Policies to strengthen equity, access and opportunities for the underprivileged and (2) Linkages/partnerships with the labor market and employers. b) The organization of targeted two-way exchanges of specialists for short-term programs abroad based on the results of this comparative study and the identification of convergent points in both systems; c) The establishment of a strong bilateral network of experts in vocational and technological education; d) Wide dissemination of successful experiences in both Brazil and the U.S. through a "Best Practices" publication to foster broad-based improvements in the practice and policy of voc-tech education; e) Discussion and selection of key areas for mutual collaboration, development of joint projects and identification of potential 

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sources of resources for project implementation; f) Implementation of bilateral initiatives to strengthen voc-tech education. 

14) (U) Five U.S. community colleges that have had a long-term interest in international education are contributing to the program: Alamo Community College District, Houston Community College, Macomb Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, and San Diego Community College. On the Brazil side, in order to promote nationwide impact and dissemination of this Partnership, the Ministry of Education selected ten federal institutions (two in each of five Brazilian geographic regions) to serve as converging poles responsible for sharing/ multiplying the knowledge acquired. The participating Brazilian and American institutions have just submitted proposals for joint projects that will be reviewed by a bi-laterals committee. Two examples included: biotechnology curriculum training for Brazilian instructors in Paraiba by San Diego Community College and sharing best practices in the area of fresh water issues and hospitality tourism between the participating institution in Amazonas and Macomb Community College. 

¶15. (U) Public School English Teacher Training Programs: Each year post funds programs to provide additional training to public school English teachers through grants to BNC's and this year also through a grant to two alumni as part of our Alumni Small Grants competition. Many public school English teachers barely speak English themselves and/or use outdated teaching methods. As overall lack of proper training for public school teachers has been identified as one of the major hurdles to improving education, post believes that providing additional training to English teachers is where we can make a contribution to addressing this problem. Although several BNCs have done this type of training for public school teachers, one in particular, the Casa Thomas Jefferson (CTJ) in Brasilia, has developed an outstanding and cost-effective model that some other BNCs are using as well, including the one in Salvador. CTJ's program provides 120 hours of classroom instruction, including books, for just Dols 400/participating teacher. This year CTJ was able to reduce the cost to post by convincing a book publisher to sponsor part of the training. English Language Fellows in Brazil also often get involved in the training of public school teachers. For example, one Fellow this year is serving as the primary trainer in a project sponsored by the City of Belo Horizonte's school system to improve the teaching of English there as part of their preparations in anticipation of being a host city for the 2014 World Cup. 

¶16. (U) Post Implementation of ECA-Initiated Programs supporting Education in Brazil: Post makes use of existing ECA programs to support educational improvements as well. Brazil has the fourth largest Fulbright exchange program in the world. Regularly International and Voluntary Visitor programs have an educational focus, including an upcoming Voluntary Visitor program that will bring nine state secretaries of education (including CONSED's President) to Washington, DC and New York City to look at innovative programs those school systems have implemented. Post is implementing ACCESS scholarship programs in Salvador, Sco Paulo, Porto Alegre and Recife and has plans to expand ACCESS program to the other parts of the North and Northeast of Brazil, which are the countries' poorest areas. Brazil was invited last year, for the first-time ever, to participate in ECA's International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP), a semester-long exchange program for secondary-level educators that combines academic study and practical experience. Post worked with CONSED to announce this program to public schools throughout Brazil and, out of the 77 participants worldwide in this year's ILEP, seven are Brazilian teachers. 

¶17. (U) Use of New Media: Post is continually searching for ways to expand the reach of our programs using new technologies and social media. We have provided laptops to grantee organizations to loan to exchange participants so they can blog and skype while in the U.S. This year's Youth Ambassadors blogged about their experience in the US on Globo's internet site, the number two internet portal in Brazil. The Youth Ambassadors also regularly use MSN, Yahoo groups and Orkut - a social networking site more popular than Facebook in Brazil - to keep in touch with each other and friends. PA has established a Mission "New Technologies" Working Group that will bring together members from across the mission to brainstorm ideas for the best uses of new media to transmit our messages and expand our programming, especially to the young and tech-savvy. Opportunities for New Educational Programs and Challenges to Implementation 

¶18. (SBU) Through the strong partnership post has developed with the Ministry of Education, CONSED, BNCs, and other partners, many opportunities exist to expand current programs which are supporting improvements to public education in Brazil and develop new ones. Obstacles to new initiatives include PAS budget and human resource constraints, as well as the lack of English language ability on the part of most potential exchange or training program participants, requiring costly interpretation. However, Post has identified the 

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following areas for potential expansion, pending available funding and human resource capabilities: - Programs developed as a result of JAPRE: During the March, 2008 visit of former Secretary Rice to Brazil, the U.S. and Brazil signed the Joint Action Plan to Promote Racial and Ethnic Equality (JAPRE). The Mission is working closely with Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) and Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPPIR) to implement the plan. This bilateral plan pledges ongoing collaboration to promote equality of all racial and ethnic groups by sharing best practices, resources, and information. Both governments have instituted legislation and policies to provide social justice and social inclusion for all members of society. The Embassy is working with Itamaraty, SEPPIR, and relevant USG interagency offices, to establish a bi-national Steering Group comprised of government, civil society, and private sector representatives. The Steering Group will meet regularly to identify ways to promote equal access to quality education/training, justice, employment, housing, health care, credit, etc. The U.S. and Brazil will also seek ways to promote relevant cultural exchanges in the arts, history, sports, and communication. Post has prioritized education-related programs as the number one goal for programs that fall under the JAPRE. Post is working with Brazilian counterparts and various Department of State offices to secure resources for training and exchange programs to create and strengthen partnerships between universities, cultural institutions, democratic institutions, and civil society organizations. In addition, SEPPIR has noted that there is a Brazilian law that requires the teaching of the history of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous populations in Brazil in Brazilian public schools, but most schools do not do this. SEPPIR would like to use the JAPRE to promote implementation of this law. Programs that develop as a result of the JAPRE could also have an impact on the quality of pre-university public education to the extent that they include educators at this level and that they "shine a light" on the existing problems. It is important to note, however, that no additional funding nor human resources has been provided to post to implement the JAPRE though post is currently working with the Department to identify existing sources of funding that can but used for development of these programs. -Continued Development of Youth Ambassador Follow-On Activities: Post is making continued development of follow-on activities for Youth Ambassador alumni a high priority, especially where their voices can be amplified to reach a broader audience. These activities include Youth Ambassador alumni association development, assistance with securing internships and through advising centers providing ECA Opportunity Grants and assistance in applying to U.S. universities. As the Youth Ambassador program matures, former Youth Ambassadors who begin entering the workforce in Brazil can perhaps be asked to serve as mentors for new Youth Ambassadors and also assist with internships and job training. These young people are tremendous role models and are truly "ambassadors" for U.S.-Brazil relations (they are uniformly a uniquely inspirational group who talk about the "life changing" experience of the Youth Ambassador Program and the doors to the future it opens for participants), and we continue to seek ways to connect them to other young people. -Possible Expansion of School Principal Exchange: In recent meetings Post has had with CONSED, two ideas for expansion of the School Principal Exchange have been raised. One is a prize for the state coordinators of the award program which CONSED plans to institute that would be an incentive for coordinators to work toward both a higher quantity and quality of applicants for the award. CONSED has asked Post if an annual exchange for award-winning coordinators could be developed and post is currently considering the idea, possibly as a pilot at first through the Voluntary Visitor program. Those who coordinate the award in their state work in the mid-level of their state secretariat for education and are potential future leaders in educational policy-making. The other idea, suggested, in a meeting with Ms. Migliari, is facilitation of a "sister schools" program among schools that win the principal award in Brazil and with a school that the principal then visits during the exchange. This idea requires much further consideration and development before post decides to pursue it, but these ideas demonstrate the enthusiasm of partners such as CONSED to develop new educational partnerships with Post. - Expansion of Voc/Tech program: Public Affairs has provided additional funding to this program in order to expand the two-way exchange program and is discussing with the GOB ways they can also provide additional financial support to the program. - Additional public school English teacher training: These programs are a cost-effective way to improve public school English teaching. As many BNCs struggle to remain open due to increased competition from other English-language teaching institutions, developing expertise in teacher training through post, GOB or private sector 

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funding could both improve public school instruction and help to insure 
he survival of BNCs and to shar