Brazil School for Year 2030
by Danish Kurani (MAUD ’12)
The Brazil School for Year 2030 is a collaboration between the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Ministry of Education of Rio de Janeiro. In 2010, Brazil passed legislation restructuring its public education system. The National Education Bases and Guidelines Law mandated that students between the ages of 6 and 14 attend a full 7.5 hour school day (as opposed to the previously required 4.5 hours per day). Longer school days, reconfigured age groupings, and a new focus on behavioral and cognitive development, have led to a pressing need for new school facilities. Thus, the state of Rio seeks to build 900 new schools – designed to support new educational standards while anchoring progress for communities – by the year 2030.