The educational system was in critical position. Firstly, in the primary school, the number of students was growing so fast that the education system cannot manage. At the primary level, the number of pupils who were studying at private schools was becoming bigger very fast, although that was not true of secondary education. The problems of secondary education were may be best reflected in the fact that 11 per cent of seventeen year-old children did not work and do not study.
Brazil’s educational situation has improved in the past years. In 2005, the national enrollment rate was 97.3% in the 7-to-14-year-old children, and 81.7% in the 15-to-17-year-old teenagers. Sao Paulo also stood out in this period, with rate of 98.6% in the 7-to-14-year-old children and 86.4% in the 15-to-17-year-old teenagers.
In 2005, more than 37% of Brazil’s institutions that offer high-school-leveled professional education were located in Sao Paulo. This fact ensures that development of its qualified labor force will continue.
The State of São Paulo is also an important center of production and diffusion of academic knowledge. Sao Paolo's universities and qualified higher education institutions upgrading the professional skills through undergraduate, graduate, specialization and extension courses. More than 24% of Brazil’s higher education institutions, and nearly 50% of the institutions located in the Southeast region are located in the State of Sao Paulo. In 2005, the Sao Paulo higher education institutions graduated more than 218 thousand students in undergraduate courses. It corresponds to more than 30% of Brazil’s total graduated people.
The qualification level of Sao Paulo’s professors of higher education institutions is also need to be emphasazaed. In 2005, nearly 29% of those professors held a doctoral degree, in contrast to 22% of the national average. At that time, 66% of the Brazilian professors of higher education institutions had master’s degrees or expert diplomas, whereas 65% of Sao Paulo's higher education professionals held master’s or doctoral degrees. (statistic information from http://english.investimentos.sp.gov.br/portal.php/information/quality/education)
6. Ethnicity
When speaking about ethnicity in Sao Paulo it is better begin from ethnicity of whole Brazil. The first European immigrants to Brazil were Portuguese. Some Portuguese settlers were of Moorish or Jewish origin but most of them had converted to Christian religion. The Portuguese intermarried with the Amerindian population, which was decimated by conflict and disease. During colonial period number of slaves from Africa were becoming bigger and bigger and black slaves outnumbered the white settlers in many areas. But high death rate and low birth rate of black slaves the balance changed. But when slavery become politically and economically less possible after British blocked the slave trade. Italian immigrants began replacing the slaves on coffee plantations in Sao Paulo.During the 1900s, the Japanese descendants, who constitute the largest community of Japanese outside of Japan, except for Hawaii, became primarily urban residents, especially in Sao Paulo. Ethnic groups that arrived in Brazil intermingled and intermarried. This led to increasing mixtures of all possible combinations and degrees. In 1991 were 55.3 percent white, 39.3 percent mulatto, 4.9 percent black, and 0.6 percent Asian. Because of various ethnics living in Brazil, this country was touted as a “racial democracy”. But “racial democracy” is a myth. There is a very strong relationship between color of skin and higher income, education and social status. Few black population gain positions of wealth, prestige, and power, except in the arts and sports.
The majority of the Whites of the state is of Italian, Portuguese and German descent. The Mulattoes are a mixture of Europeans with the Blacks and Amerindians, varying from light to dark complexion. The Blacks are of African descent.
7. Workforce
Trends in employment and unemployment in Sao Paulo between 1985 and 1993 reflect those in Brazil as a whole (table above). After the difficulties of the early 1980s, rates of unemployment had fallen down in the 10 year time, but rise rapidly during the 1990s. By 1992, there were more than 1.2 million unemployed people in the city, 16 per cent of the economically active population. The proportion of the labour force that was self-employed rose from 16 per cent in 1986 to 21 per cent in 1993. The proportion that was working without a work permit rose from a minimum of 19 per cent in 1989 to 23 per cent in January 1993. The employment situation in Sao Paulo has undoubtedly deteriorated.
8. Migration patterns
Sao Paulo had a population explosion in the past half century,
largely a result of the urbanization process, and the movement of rural Brazilians to the
urban area. Today, internal migration from outside the state no longer accounts for the
majority of population increase in Sao Paulo, as natural increase. Still, the
movement of Brazilians to Sao Paulo has had, and continues to have, an enourmous
impact on the composition of the resident population.
Table 1 illustrates, of the
almost twenty (20) million residents living in Sao Paolo, nearly sixty-eight (68)
percent were born outside of Sao Paulo(migrants). Just more than thirty (30) percent were born in the city (non migrants). This is remarkable and points to the intense and profound role of migration in
stimulating growth in Sao Paolo. Forty-eight (48) percent of residents in Sao Paulo
were not born in the city and have lived there more than 10 years (long-term migrants). And nearly twenty (20) percent of migrants have been living in the city less than 10 years
(short-term migrants). Figure 1 provides a visualization of major internal migration flows to the Sao Paolo by mapping the absolute numbers and state of origin of all migrants (i.e. both short-term and long-term migrants) living within Sao Paulo. The largest flow comes from within the State of Sao Paulo itself. The migration patterns generally reflect the states that have been historical suppliers of migrants in the past. The state of Bahia stands out as the most prominent source of migrants outside the state of Sao Paulo. But migration from Minas Gerais and Pernambuco is also significant: more than 3 million migrants from these two states lived in Sao Paulo in the 2000 census.
Figure 1
- Current population related problems and solution
The city has 32,000 inhabitants in 1880, Sao Paulo increased its population to approximately 250,000 in 1900, 1,800,000 in 1940, 4,750,000 in 1960 and 8,500,000 in 1980. The effects of this population boom have been:
- Although urban planning has been implemented in some areas, Sao Paulo has developed quickly without major planning leading to some neighborhoods not having streets
- Ineffective public transport associated with a high number of cars and other vehicles in circulation lead to consistently congested traffic on many roads of the city.
- Due to heavy usage and poor maintenance, the quality of the pavement on certain roads (especially in the outskirts of the city) is problematic, and potholes and other asphalt defects are common.
- Crime rates and gang violence are high, especially in the numerous city slums and peripheral neighbourhoods.
- Approximately 13,30% of the population in São Paulo lived in poor conditions
- High air pollution, mainly due to the high circulation of automobiles and buses in town.
- The two major rivers crossing the city, River Tietê and River Pinheiros, are also highly polluted. A major project intended to clean up these rivers is in the pipeline.
(facts from Wikipedia)
One of the biggest population problem is crime.
Now the solution for it found, but it is not very popular yet. The name of the solution – VeriChip. Mr. Cunha Lima has announced that he wants to be the first person in Brazil to "get chipped(TM)" with the secure VeriChip(TM) identification device.
The main purpose of Mr. Cunha Lima's meetings with Applied Digital Solutions executives is to discuss specific ways that VeriChip-related security systems could help Brazil meet its growing crime and security related problems.
VeriChip is an implantable, radio frequency device about the size of the point of a typical ballpoint pen. Each VeriChip will contain a unique identification number and other critical data. Utilizing an external scanner, radio frequency energy passes through the skin energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the identification number and other data contained in the VeriChip. The scanner will display the identification number,and data can be transmitted, via telephone or the Internet, to an FDA compliant, secure data-storage site. Inserting the VeriChip device is a simple procedure performed in an outpatient, office setting. It requires only local anesthesia, a tiny incision and perhaps a small adhesive bandage.
10. Future strategies
Between 1970 and 1980, 4.6 million people were added to the metropolitan population in the State of Sao Paolo, 2.3 million of them as migrants. Seventeen per cent of all migrants in the country - 40 per cent of all the migrants who moved to the nine metropolitan regions - moved to São Paulo.
Fortunately, the pace of growth slowed during the 1980s and the forecast of 19 million inhabitants by 1990 was well wide of the mark. A halving of the annual growth rate of some 250,000 people per annum meant that the city had only 15.2 million inhabitants in 1991. Annual growth in the 1980s had averaged 1.9 per cent compared to 4.5 per cent in the 1970s.
One reason for this slowing in growth is the dramatic fall in fertility in the country. In the early 1950s, the average woman bore 6.2 children in her lifetime, in the early 1980s only 3.5. Brazil's population growth rate fell from 3.7 per cent per annum in the 1970s to 1.9 per cent during the 1980s. A further reason for the marked slowing in São Paulo's population increase is the changing pattern of migration.
Even if the authorities are helped by the slower rate of demographic growth, the city's population will continue to grow. It will take an enormous effort to address the needs of these additional people as well as those of the people who were neglected during the lost decade of the 1980s. Such an effort will be helped if the economy begins to grow once again, but, even if it does, one major policy change is vital: more tax resources must be shifted from the State of São Paulo and from the nation to the municipal authorities. Without larger fiscal transfers the prospects for the city look bleak.
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