Brazil, Peru and Colombia increase the daily hours of study at public schools

In 2015, the Brazilian, Peruvian and Colombian governments will be increasing the number of daily study hours at public schools. The main goals for the these countries are to:

• increase the quality in education,
• improve the academic performance of the students,
• balance the gap between public and private schools.

School hours in Colombia

Colombia will be introducing a pilot programme in 2015 that will increase the daily study hours from five to eight hours. A total of 53,000 students from 9th grade in 550 schools will participate in the programme. The plan is to match the number of hours that a student from a public institution would spend at school to a student studying at a private institution. The extra hours will focus on technical training for students and will involve subjects such as Scientific Research, Reading Comprehension and Experiments.

School education in Brazil

Brazil started to increase the daily hours at school in 2014, reaching 60,000 schools across the country. Brazil estimates that this programme will be in action in 25% of their schools within the next ten years. The subjects included in the additional hours are Culture, Sports and Reading. From 2012 to 2013, the enrolment of students in complete day schools increased by 45% and increased 140% in the 2010-2013 period.

School hours in Peru

In Peru, the complete school day will be in action in 2015. The programme will launch in 1,000 schools and will involve 345,000 students. Their goal is to implement the complete school day in all the schools in the country by 2021. The additional school hours will be spent in subjects such as Math, English, Technology and Sciences.  

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