Education under Itamar

1992–1994 · 1992 (acting during impeachment)

Mean years of schooling went from 4.0 in 1992 to 4.3 in 1994. The government adopted the ten-year education-for-all plan, a commitment from the Jomtien conference, and decentralized school meals; the Real Plan came in 1994.

This visualization is descriptive and does not show that a government caused the change. See the methodology.

What started

Ten-Year Plan of Education for All

1993 · Not yet checked against the official record

MEC plan presented in 1993 that takes on the goal of universalizing primary education and reducing illiteracy, in response to the 1990 world conference.

Source: oasisbr.ibict.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 4.1 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %
Decentralization of school meals to municipalities

1994-07-12 · Lei 8.913/1994 · Checked against the official record on 2026-11-01

Transfers school meal funds to states, the Federal District and municipalities.

Source: www2.camara.leg.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 4.3 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %

Cuts, withholdings and limits

Emergency Social Fund and the earmark base

1994-03-01 · Earmark · Emenda Constitucional de Revisão 1/1994 · Checked against the official record on 2026-11-01

The revision amendment that created the stabilization fund removed part of the Union's tax revenue from earmarks. There is debate on how much this reduced the base for the federal education minimum (effect not checked).

Source: www2.camara.leg.br
Series in the event's year (Brazil)
- Mean years of schooling (UNDP): 4.3 years
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): no data %

Change in the series over the period

From the year before the start to the last year of the period, with an optional lag. Compare with Latin America and neighbors: if all moved together, the change is probably not a government's doing.

Absolute change in the series unit (p.p. = percentage points); relative change, in %, only where shown.

no lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	1992–1994 *	+0.3 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.1 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	1992–1994 *	no data	no data	no data	no data	no data	+1.3 p.p.

1-year lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	1993–1995	+0.3 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.1 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	1993–1995	no data	no data	no data	no data	no data	+1.3 p.p.

2-year lag

Indicator	Window	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years	1994–1996	+0.3 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.2 yrs	+0.1 yrs	+0.1 yrs	no data
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) %	1994–1996	no data	no data	no data	no data	no data	+1.0 p.p.

Pace before and during the government

Yearly change in this window, against the same length immediately before. Talk of a change in pace only when the series moved differently before; even then it does not say why. If Latin America changed pace together, the cause is probably not the government.

Indicator	Before	During	Latin America & Caribbean: before → during
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) per year	+0.15 yrs (1990–1992)	+0.15 yrs (1992–1994)	no data

Mean years of schooling (UNDP)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

years. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: all series: 1990–2023.

Mean years of schooling (UNDP): Source: UNDP — Human Development Report · Source version: HDR 2025 · Collected on: 2026-10-26 · License: CC-BY-3.0-IGO
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1990	3.7	8.1	8.4	6.3	5.9
1991	3.8	8.2	8.5	6.4	6.0
1992	4.0	8.3	8.5	6.4	6.1
1993	4.1	8.3	8.6	6.5	6.2
1994	4.3	8.4	8.7	6.6	6.2
1995	4.4	8.5	8.8	6.6	6.3
1996	4.6	8.5	8.9	6.7	6.4
1997	4.8	8.6	8.9	6.7	6.4
1998	4.9	8.7	9.0	6.8	6.5
1999	5.1	8.7	9.1	6.8	6.6
2000	5.3	8.8	9.1	6.9	6.7
2001	5.4	8.9	9.3	6.9	6.8
2002	5.6	9.4	9.4	7.0	7.0
2003	5.8	9.9	9.6	7.0	7.1
2004	6.0	10.0	9.7	7.1	7.3
2005	6.2	10.1	9.7	7.3	7.5
2006	6.3	10.2	9.8	6.8	7.9
2007	6.5	10.3	9.8	7.2	7.9
2008	6.7	10.4	10.1	7.3	7.9
2009	6.8	10.5	10.0	7.3	8.1
2010	6.9	10.6	9.9	7.4	8.0
2011	7.0	10.7	9.5	7.5	8.3
2012	7.2	10.8	9.8	7.6	8.5
2013	7.3	10.9	10.0	7.8	8.4
2014	7.4	10.9	10.1	8.0	8.4
2015	7.5	10.9	10.3	8.1	8.6
2016	7.7	10.9	10.4	8.2	8.6
2017	7.8	11.0	10.6	8.4	8.7
2018	8.0	11.1	10.8	8.5	8.9
2019	8.1	11.1	10.9	8.6	9.1
2020	8.3	11.1	11.1	8.9	9.2
2021	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3
2022	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3
2023	8.4	11.2	11.3	9.0	9.3

† series break

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)

Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Mexico

%. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: Brazil: 1980–2024 (22 years); Argentina: 1980–2020 (4 years); Chile: 1982–2017 (7 years); Colombia: 1993–2024 (21 years); Mexico: 1980–2024 (25 years).

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over): Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts

View the data as a table

Year	Brazil	Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Mexico
1980	74.6	93.9	–	–	83.0
1982	–	–	91.1	–	–
1990	–	–	–	–	87.6
1991	–	96.0	–	–	–
1992	–	–	94.3	–	–
1993	–	–	–	91.1	–
1996	–	–	–	91.2	–
2000	86.4	–	–	–	90.5
2001	–	97.2	–	–	–
2002	–	–	95.7	–	90.3
2004	88.6	–	–	92.8	90.9
2005	–	–	–	92.8	91.6
2006	89.6	–	–	92.3	91.7
2007	90.0	–	–	92.7	92.8
2008	90.0	–	–	93.4	92.9
2009	90.3	–	–	93.2	93.4
2010	90.4	–	–	93.4	93.1
2011	91.4	–	96.7	93.6	93.5
2012	91.3	–	–	–	94.2
2013	91.5	–	96.3	–	94.0
2014	91.7	–	–	94.2	94.6
2015	92.1	–	96.9	94.3	94.5
2016	92.8	–	–	94.7	94.9
2017	93.1	–	96.4	94.9	95.0
2018	93.2	–	–	95.1	95.4
2019	93.9	–	–	95.3	95.4
2020	94.7	99.1	–	95.6	95.3
2021	94.8	–	–	95.7	95.7
2022	94.4	–	–	95.3	95.1
2023	94.6	–	–	95.5	95.8
2024	94.7	–	–	95.3	95.6

† series break

How to assess a government and its policies critically

Other factors that moved the same series

Very high inflation until mid-1994 eroded pay and budgets. One critical assessment in the literature is that the ten-year plan was little implemented; primary education only approached universal access after the next government's funding reform.

Limitations

The items on this page were written from research in secondary sources, without access to the official texts in the development environment; each item shows whether it was checked against the official record.
Mean years of schooling and adult literacy move slowly by construction and reflect decades of enrollment; a change within one term does not measure that term's policies. Enrollment series by level only start in 2007 or 2012, and the catalog has no learning series or federal spending in reais.

Sources

#	Number	Origin
1	4.0	undp_hdr.mys BRA 1992 · UNDP — Human Development Report · Source version HDR 2025 · Collected on 2026-10-26
2	4.3	undp_hdr.mys BRA 1994 · UNDP — Human Development Report · Source version HDR 2025 · Collected on 2026-10-26