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During the recent 2024 Global Education Meeting (GEM) in Fortaleza, held between 31 October and 1 November, education leaders from around the world gathered to discuss transformative policies shaping education globally. Among the discussion highlights figured the recently launched Piggy Bank Programme ("±Êé-de-Meia"), which started in Brazil in February this year. After just nine months, Piggy Bank is starting to show promising signs when it comes to increasing equality in high school enrolment rates. 

The programme was conceived to tackle a challenge shown by the Brazilian School Census: nearly half a million Brazilian students drop out of secondary school every year, primarily to start helping with family income. Recognising this critical need, the programme started offering an incentive-based approach designed to prevent dropout and promote completion of education among students in public secondary schools.  

Each eligible student is provided with a savings account. Monthly stipends are deposited into these accounts, contingent upon the students' attendance of at least 80% of classes each month. In addition, an instalment is awarded at the end of each school year, but it only becomes accessible upon completion of the secondary education. Accrued savings may then provide support for students and their families on their next steps, be them access to higher education or entrepreneurial endeavours, for example.

Leveraging the data infrastructure created for "Bolsa Família", Brazil's flagship conditional cash transfer programme, Piggy Bank operates more as an educational initiative than as a social one. The programme reflects Brazil's commitment to tackling dropout rates and advancing educational equity.

The programme is counting on the active engagement of state education secretariats, which are starting to intervene locally, based on the monitoring data collected, in cases where students fail to meet the minimum attendance requirement. 

Brazil's National Higher Education Entrance Exam ("ENEM") was recently held on 3 and 10 November, with a record turnout of 4.3 million registrants. Noticeably, ENEM 2024 registered a 36 percentage-point increase on the participation of public secondary school students, from 58% last year to 94% this year.

Still in its early stages, Piggy Bank represents a pioneering approach in the country's educational landscape, offering students both financial stability and the academic encouragement needed to complete their studies and plan for a more promising future. As seen during the 2024 GEM discussions, it can serve as an inspiring reference for other nations exploring innovative education policies.