In 1969, the State of Maranhao in north-east Brazil instituted a system of educational television designed to provide instruction for the last four years of basic education. It affects some 13,000 students living in the poor outer suburbs of the capital of the State. The experiment is today faced with the vitally important problem of expansion. The first chapter of this report provides a brief summary of the economic and educational situation, and describes the education system in Maranhao and the Maranhese Foundation for Educational Television (MFTVE). The second chapter deals with the costs of the system from various points of view, and the third is a tentative appraisal of its educational effectiveness. Concluding comments based both on empirical data and on more informal observations include suggestions for priorities on which MFTVE should concentrate in the immediate future. (VT)