In the same month it was confronting its worse political and ethical crisis, the Lula government lost the opportunity to commemorate what could have been one of its major actions: teaching ten million adults to read and write.

In these 30 months of the Lula administration, it could have cut the illiteracy rate in half, from 14% to 7%.

This would have been possible thanks to an action taken on the first day of the administration, when the Ministry of Education announced an ambitious goal: literacy in four years for all 20 million of the illiterate Brazilian adults then in existence, according to analyses.

Various literacy programs had already been carried out, but none employed the revolutionary ideal of setting a definite timeline to abolish the problem.

A special Secretariat, created in the Ministry of Education for the matter, mobilized society and structured the financing by public and non - governmental entities.

It introduced two innovations: nominal control of each student and the payment of the cost per individual taught to read and write.

Despite the fact that it was formalized only in July 2003, the Extraordinary Secretariat of Illiteracy Eradication began functioning the first week of the Lula government, in January of that year, under the coordination of Professor João Luiz Homem de Carvalho.

In all Brazilian administrative history, few programs were implemented so rapidly. The Ministry of Education reoriented 100 million reais (US$ 41.9 million at current exchange rate) of its own resources and obtained 85 million reais (US$ 35.6 million) for the Programa Brasil Alfabetizado [Literate Brazil Program] from "emendas parlamentares," individual legislators' funds for their districts.

Although it began with neither budget allocation nor formal structure, Brasil Alfabetizado had spread by the end of 2003 to 1,800 municipalities with 189 accords (almost one accord per workday) signed with state and municipal governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Public Interest Organizations (OCIPs).

It had nearly 3.2 million adults in the process of achieving literacy - a little more than two million people served by programs financed by the Ministry of Education and almost 1.2 million in classrooms thanks to independent, private, or governmental initiatives.

In its first year, the program therefore exceeded by 200 thousand its goal of including three million Brazilians in literacy courses, inspiring UNESCO recognition for President Lula in September 2003.

By all indications, with a guaranteed budget of 185 million reais (US$ 77.6 million) and the mobilization of society, cities and states, we could have created more than four million newly literate Brazilians in 2004 and ten million by July 2005. But that rhythm was not maintained.

The Extraordinary Secretariat of Illiteracy Eradication was terminated, and the process of mobilizing society was abandoned. The goal of eliminating illiteracy by 2006 was transformed into a program of gradual literacy instruction using the same model as in the past.

In 18 months (from January 2004 to June 2005) only 1.6 million Brazilians - half of the amount reached in 2003 - were included in literacy programs.

In 2004, the government reduced its literacy expenditures for young people and adults by 12% in relation to 2003. By June 2, 2005, only 1.2 million reais (US$ 0.5 million) of the 635 million reais (US$ 266.2 million) anticipated for this year had been utilized.

This is a ridiculous 0.16% of the resources budgeted. At this rate, only in 2022 will Brazil attain levels of literacy similar to those of Argentina. In 2016 we will equal Paraguay.

This moment of political and ethical crisis could have instead been one of commemorating a formidable social victory. Those two facts are sadly related.

If the federal government had projects underway that would leave its mark, that would create a clear legacy for the future, if it had constructed a different Brazil, it could have formed alliances without any of these problems.

Cristovam Buarque has a Ph.D. in economics. He is a PT senator for the Federal District and was Governor of the Federal District (1995 - 98) and Minister of Education (2003 - 04). You can visit his homepage  -  www.cristovam.com.br  -  and write to him at cristovam@senador.gov.br.

Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome  -  LinJerome@cs.com.

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