Rota do Saber seeks to inspire and prepare teachers to guide children on a path of individual and interrelationship discovery. Teachers receive support to implement a learning assessment system, develop school reinforcement programs and foster more participatory management in schools. Parents, too, are involved in the project, playing a key role in the education of their children. The program, managed in partnership with local authorities, aim to increase the quality of teaching and the skills of students are designed to progressively reduce the number of those who leave school before completing their studies – an occurrence that is still widespread in Brazil.
The results of this program confirm the strength of the Rota do Saber initiative. In Igarassu - the first Brazilian city where the program was launched - the basic education index (Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica, or IDEB) of elementary schools grew by 25% in two years. This result is in line with the target set by the Brazilian government that by 2021, aims to achieve a basic education index in line with Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries, including the United States, Canada, Italy and Sweden.
In 2017, Rota do Saber was extended to the cities of Goiana, Paulista, Itambé, Alhandra and Caaporã, located in the areas around the FCA plant in Pernambuco.