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With the forecast of returning to school in August and September, the student transport project will help to prevent school dropout.

With the possibility of students returning to class in the months of August and September, the safety of students has become an even greater concern for parents and public managers, who are looking for solutions to make it effective and avoid school dropout. A project that may have a fundamental role in this resumption is the Caminho da Escola program. Municipalities still have a chance to buy school buses this year with Federal Government funding and tax benefits to support students in urban and rural areas across the country.

The action funded by the FNDE (National Education Development Fund of the Federal Government), aims to renew, standardize and expand the school vehicles fleet in the municipal, state and basic public education networks, avoiding the increase of school dropout rates. According to a survey conducted by the FNDE, five out of one thousand students don’t leave the school thanks to the provision of school vehicles.

However, an analysis released in 2019 by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) shows that actions of this size still need to be expanded to ensure the effectiveness of the program. The study points out that the North and Northeast registered a dropout rate of 9.2%, while the Southeast was at 6% and the national average was 7.6%. The issue is even greater in the rural area, where the student dropout rate reached 11.5%, whereas in urban areas the rate was 6%.

In view of the need to simplify access to schools, making the journey safer, Volare, a pioneer in the development of minibuses for school transport in the country, has offered two types of vehicles for the Caminho da Escola program.  Volare Access, for urban areas due to its suspension for a smoother ride, low floor, and access ramp for passengers with reduced mobility. And, Volare ORE 1 4x4 for rural areas due to its capacity of travelling on paved or unpaved roads with poor traffic conditions.

“For us, it is important to be part of a project such as this one. We believe that ensuring access to free student transportation can make a big difference in the socioeconomic development of a community, as more than 70% of the Brazilian states that joined the program have registered a reduction in student dropout rates. That is why we work in partnership with public managers from all over the country, to reinforce the importance of investments in education. ”, points out João Paulo Ledur, director of the Volare and Neobus Business.

Marcopolo, through its Volare brand, won the tender to supply 1,200 vehicles for the program, half of which are still available for purchase. For more information visit the website: https://www.volare.com.br/programa-caminho-da-escola.

The Caminho da Escola program allows vehicles to be purchased in three different ways, according to the reality of each municipality: through financial assistance from FNDE,  the municipality's own resources or through a BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) credit line.

Photo credit: Giovani Boff | DC Multimídia

 Máquina Cohn & Wolfe

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