São Paulo, October 14, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The policy of valorizing teachers has already begun, the Minister of Education, Cristovam Buarque, said yesterday (13). According to him, the Teacher Training System will get underway in February. In September, teachers will be evaluated and will receive certificates giving them the right to receive grants initially worth R$ 100.00. The Minister affirmed that the grants will go first to the regions where salaries are the lowest, as is the case of the Northeast. Teachers from grades 1 to 4 will be benefitted.

Buarque did not wish to comment that the government could invest more on education, if the resources allocated to the sector accompanied increases in tax collection. He said that greater investments on social programs is what everybody desires, but that monetary stability is necessary to avoid a return of inflation, because, if this occurs, nobody will speak about education any more, but economic policy instead.

"Each Minister must be committed to monetary stability. Any one of them has to look after his(her) assigned area. This is what I am doing with maximal effort," he said. Buarque and the writer, José Saramago, participated in the opening of the 1st International Conference on Education, in São Paulo. The Minister classified as a metaphor the comment made by the Portuguese writer that leftist parties should shelve their government programs and pay heed to the declaration of human rights. Buarque added that clear planning is needed to attain the proposed objectives. (DAS)