Data from a 1980 population census indicates that of the over 73.5 million people in Brazil who were over 15 years of age, 25.4 percent were illiterate and 27.42 percent had less than 1 year of schooling. Such data show the precarious situation of education in Brazil, particularly that of adolescents and adults. Its origins lie in the dual nature of the Brazilian economy, typified by considerable industrial development, ranking Brazil among the 10 major economies in the west, compared with a subsistence economy frequently encountered in urban slums and rural areas. This polarity has led to the concentration of income in the hands of the already affluent members of society and to a situation of absolute poverty, even misery, among the population excluded from the industrialization process. In 1985 the Brazilian government established the National Foundation for Youth and Adult Education (EDUCAR) to stimulate the development of literacy and basic education programs aimed at those who did not have access to school when they were young or who were prematurely excluded from it. It has promoted educational experiences of several kinds as long as they favored adult education as a process for achieving the rights of citizenship in a society moving toward democracy. An EDUCAR project in the Baixada Fluminese suburb begun in 1986 now provides 294 adult education classes in basic skills, social studies, and natural sciences. Another EDUCAR project, "Life as a School" in the city of Cabo, uses the methods of Paulo Freire and provides adults and adolescents with 6 months of literacy classes and 15 months of additional schooling. (CML)