Policymakers around the world can learn valuable lessons on how to successfully fight learning poverty and improve foundational learning from the Brazilian state of Ceará (with its 9 million inhabitants) and Sobral, a municipality in Ceará with 200,000 inhabitants. In 2005, Sobral did not even rank in the top thousand among Brazil’s municipalities. The municipality implemented key education reforms that led to substantial improvements in quality in primary and lower secondary education. Now, Sobral ranks first in Brazil, and ten of Ceará's municipalities are among the nation’s top 20.

Today, World Bank Senior Economist Ezequiel Molina (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/ezequiel-molina) and World Bank Education Specialist Adelle Pushparatnam (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/adelle-pushparatnam) speak with World Bank Senior Economist Andre Loureiro (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/andre-loureiro) about the magic of Sobral.

Learn more about the key education reforms in Sobral at https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/brazil/publication/state-ceara-brazil-role-model-reducing-learning-poverty.