Education on the construction site or in the mall: companies from Paraná offer classes during working hours for workers to complete their studies.

Three times a week, Admilson Figueiredo de Andrade, aged 46, takes a break from work and trades the materials he uses in his daily life in the construction industry for a pencil and eraser. A employee of the MRV construction company in Curitiba, he is one of more than 7 thousand people impacted by a company program that has implemented 326 schools on construction sites since 2011 so that employees can complete their studies. "I interrupted my studies at 16 years old. I stopped to work. Today I regret it very much. I tried to go back other times, but I couldn't reconcile work and study. My mind wasn't helping. The moment the opportunity arose to study with MRV, I didn't even think, I signed up right away," recounts Admilson. On school days, he meets teacher Silvana Bárbara during working hours. Along with the class, they develop activities that cover from literacy to preparation for the Encceja (National Exam for Qualification of Young and Adults), and that strengthen reading, writing, and logical reasoning skills. "We work either in the training room or in the cafeteria itself. We set up the school there: we put the blackboard, we put the projector, the sound amplifier. We work inside the construction site," describes the teacher, who has been doing this work for two years. Admilson is one of the more than 73 million people aged 18 or older who have not completed basic education, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). MRV's 'School Grade 10' program brings the classroom to the construction site - Photo: MRV A similar initiative is developed in the company's Multiplan shopping centers. In the state capital of Paraná, Kamila de las Mercedes Sanchez llerena, a outsourced employee at Park Shopping Barigüi, participates in the classes daily, also during working hours. Originally from Cuba, she is 22 years old, has lived in Brazil for just over two years, and sought the classes to learn Portuguese and revalidate diplomas from her home country. "I studied nutrition at the university there. I had to leave my studies to come here. It was very difficult. Here you have to start a totally different life. It's complicated and not all people can do it," states Kamila, pointing to the language as the biggest difficulty. READ MORE ABOUT EDUCATION AND SCIENCE: - Inspiration: After a university where she was bombarded in Syria, the refugee found refuge at UFPR and inspired the creation of new public policies - Beyond the border: Influential students drive a millionaire market in Paraguay by assisting Brazilians who dream of studying medicine - Different Aspects: Less than half of the public school students in Paraná feel welcomed by adults in school: 'We lost the opportunity to build, other worlds with them', says an expert Beyond the classroom Kamila is an outsourced employee at Park Shopping Barigüi and participates in the classes daily, during working hours - Photo: Park Shopping Barigüi Although the focus is on skill development, expanding access to education is also bringing reflections to the careers and personal lives of workers. An internal survey by MRV shows that 83% of the employees interviewed stated they wished to stay longer at the company due to the initiative, while 89% perceived an increase in their own productivity. "I perceive, besides the learning, a transformation in how they think and behave. Some achieve this certification [Encceja], some managed to move forward, change their lives by doing technical courses, some are thinking of doing a college... This is the biggest impact I see: the realization of a dream that, for them, was previously impossible and is happening," states teacher Silvana Bárbara. At Park Shopping Barigüi, the difference is also evident in the daily work. With a large number of foreigners, this is especially reflected in the improvement of communication, as detailed by Marcela Bonandin, operations manager of the shopping center. "I think they feel embraced. Mainly because of the cultural issue. Coming from different countries, arriving in a country that doesn't speak their language... There is something more in their daily delivery that makes all the difference for us," states the manager, who also highlights that the project was created with another focus, but went through adaptations to incorporate foreign employees. A different perspective For students with a profile similar to Admilson's, resuming studies means facing an additional challenge: reconciling a learning routine with work, family, and other responsibilities. In the case of MRV, the classes are planned considering these particularities, which can bring difficulties at first. "There is a student who stayed without studying for 40 years. The biggest difficulty is the time they spend without studying. They are adults who, for example, cannot study at night, cannot study on weekends, because they have the responsibilities of an adult," observes the teacher. In this context, the classes also have continuous and personalized support. When entering the project, called "School Grade 10", each student undergoes an evaluation that identifies the level of knowledge. Based on this result, activities are developed adequate to learning needs. Furthermore, every 15 days, new evaluations are carried out to monitor individual evolution, adjust strategies, and stimulate the continuity of studies. "At first I was a bit scared, but the teacher is very attentive, explains well for us, gives attention to each student, individually. For me, it represented an achievement, it encouraged me to fulfill my goals. I will continue studying. Even after I complete basic education, I will continue to higher education, God willing," shares Admilson, who says that whenever there is an opportunity, he encourages his coworkers to participate in the project. Other paths School classroom in Paraná - Photo: Roberto Dziura Jr/AEN For adults who do not have the same opportunity as Admilson and Kamila to work in a company that offers classes to complete basic education, the public network offers Youth and Adult Education (EJA) – established in 1996. However, the demand for EJA has been declining in recent years. In Paraná, between 2007 and 2025, the number of enrollments in EJA fell by 64.5%. The downward trend is national, but the variation is greater in the Paranaense network. Throughout Brazil, the number of enrollments fell by 55.3%. Meanwhile, data from the Brazilian Yearbook of Basic Education indicate that, for every 100 young people, 74 complete High School by the age of 19. The reasons for the decline, according to Luana Smeets, manager of Educational Policies at Todos Pela Educação, are multifactorial – especially considering that the target audience of EJA students are adults, who have demands from the world of work, other demands that are different from those in regular school age, which requires a different nature of proposal for teaching. "The drop in enrollments does not mean we have solved the problem. Today we have a very large contingent of adults who have not been schooled. The drop may be lack of information, it may be the need for income access, which limits these people's time to dedicate a few hours to study, there may be some relation to lack of interest, for example: that content is not connected with what I need for my adult life, in my work, at home, in my relationships...", Smeets points out. Closing classes is also one of the obstacles that can be associated with the reduction in demand for EJA. The reduction in the number of classes decreases the educational networks' capacity to serve new students interested in resuming studies. Currently, 191 institutions in the state network of Paraná offer this modality – being 141 schools and 50 State Centers for Basic Education for Youth and Adults (CEEBJAs). In 2025, 510 students were relocated between units, according to the State Education Secretariat (Seed-PR). The reduction in classes and the concentration of offers in fewer units raise an alert about the need to guarantee access to youth and adult education in all regions. For experts, any change in the network must consider the impacts on those who depend on this modality, since education is a right guaranteed by the Constitution. "We are talking about a violation of rights. The right to education is provided for in the Constitution, article 205, for all people. So it is important that we observe this," warns Smeets. For Smeets, one possibility to make the modality more attractive to the target audience is to offer EJA articulated with Professional and Technological Education – a modality that unites the completion of basic education with technical training or professional qualification. Contrary to what was recorded with the number of enrollments in EJA, in Brazil, enrollments in EJA integrated with Professional Education have increased. "This can also bring a clue: people want to professionalize themselves and maybe they are not finding in the curriculum proposal of regular basic education what they need to access higher income," points out the specialist. Thinking about the future The Brazilian Yearbook of Basic Education highlights that the new National Education Plan (PNE), approved in April 2026, foresees two main objectives for EJA: to educate 97% of the population aged 15 and over to the fifth year of the plan's validity (2030) and to expand the integration of EJA with Professional Education. To achieve these objectives, the challenges now involve strenuous work, which involves strategies and monitoring. "The challenge is to manage to realistically map the current diagnosis, create intermediate goals to monitor over time. There must be a monitoring and follow-up strategy that allows policies to be improved. It is not about drawing a strategy and following it for 10 years. This monitoring and follow-up must provide information for decision-makers to act, and not just be a procedural thing," defends the manager of Educational Policies at Todos Pela Educação. VIDEOS: More watched on g1 Paraná Read more news on g1 Paraná.