President Dilma Rousseff unveiled Wednesday (Jun 18) the second phase of the National Program for the Access to Technical Education and Employment, also known as Pronatec 2. The initiative will create 12 thousand openings as of 2015 in over 220 high-school vocational training courses and 646 qualification courses. The first stage of the program, created in 2011, aims to have 8 million vacancies available in this sector by 2014.

“We say 12 million with the certainty that it’s an achievable figure, because throughout this period we have built our learning curve. Today, we know how it’s done, and we can improve Pronatec considerably,” said Rousseff. She went on to stress that the goal of the first phase is about to be met, as Pronatec currently reports the enrollment of 7.4 million new students.

The president also highlighted the importance of education to Brazilian economy. “More and more over time, education will play a double role: to ensure a steady reduction of poverty and the decentralization of the income from the last 12 years, and lead Brazil into the knowledge society. In the short run, this demands higher productivity from our economy.”

Education Minister Henrique Paim explained that Pronatec 2 will include the creation of more courses with a focus on entrepreneurship and business management for small business owners.

The federal government is investing $6.2 billion in the current stage of this program