Educational Reform in Brazil. The Law of 1961.

On December 21, 1961 the Brazilian Congress passed the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education, implementing the educational provisions of the Constitution of 1946. This Law of 1961 was Brazil's first general education law and was widely publicized as decentralizing the administration of and the responsibility for Brazilian education, and providing for the needed degree of flexibility for the varied regional conditions within the country. It is with such reforms and trends in Brazilian education, following implementation of the Law of 1961, that the present study is principally concerned. Part I describes the background of the national scene in which the Law of 1961 was to function. Part II discusses the system of education as it existed in 1961. Part III presents the provisions of the law, its implementation, beginning in 1962, at all levels of Brazilian education; and the implications for future educational development in Brazil. (Author)