Headline, February06, 2014

''' O' LATIN AMERICA : 

LET A MILLION STUDENT- FLOWERS

 BLOOM '''

That means that the bright sparks, Brazilian or otherwise, can charge a premium, which in turn makes Brazil a more tempting destination for migrants.

Oil-an-gas engineers can earn perhaps  20% more in Brazil than in Europe, says Mr Barberis, an Italian who heads Manpower in Brazil.

In the long run Latin countries could address their skill shortages by fixing their schools, which are bad.

Mexican students score no better on tests than those in Thailand and Romania, which are much poorer countries. Brazil is even worse.

But things are  looking up: Brazil has increased enrolment and Mexico recently arrested the leader of its teachers union, on charges of stealing more than $150 million of union money to splurge on handbags and cosmetic surgery. She denies the charges!

In some fields local skills have improved. 

''Ten or fifteen years ago you would go to a big banking pitch in Brazil and the bankers would all be Americans flown in for the day. Now they are all Brazilians,'' says Damian Fraser, a Briton who runs Mexican office of UBS. 

The Banks winning business are increasingly local ones as well.

Even so, Latin Forms would still benefit from easy access to foreign talent, knowledge and connections.

Alas, many governments make hiring foreigners difficult. It can take six months to get a Brazilian visa. UBS has been waiting months to transfer a Portuguese analyst to Sao Paulo, offices.

And was unable to transfer a Danish employee to Brazil because the financial services exam can be sat only in Portuguese.

Inefficient ports and high custom duties make relocation expensive. Once in, it is difficult to leave Brazil:

Departing expats must be prepared to submit to an inspection of their possessions to check that no cultural patrimony is being stolen.

The government recently announced speedier visas for IT workers. For everyone else the process remains painful.

Even Mexico, a tenth of whose citizens live abroad and whose economy is more open than that of any other country its size, remains atavistically touchy about outsiders.

Foreigners cannot buy property along its borders or coast   -national security, you understand- or invest in certain industries. Oil remains in the ground because gringos are barred from investing in extracting it.

Even foreign born Mexican citizens cannot serve in the cabinet.

It is not surprising that Latin America is bad at managing immigration: for years it has had little to deal with.

Whereas  13% of people in the US and Britain were born abroad, in Mexico the figure is less than 1%.

In Brazil it is 0.3%.

As Latin America booms and blooms, its foreign-born population will swell. Employing clever foreigners,  especially fresh graduate students from the world over, will let every flower bloom and the region thrive.

Now on the ASER survey covering the learning levels of Students in Pakistan's, read this:

The mathematics assessment test covering two-digit subtraction and division questions put to Class-V students revealed that  75% and  71% students in Sindh could not correctly attempt the two types of questions, respectively.

In KPK,  65.8%  and  62.4% students could not solve the subtraction and division questions correctly.

This ratio in Balochistan stood at  66.5%  and  61.4%, respectively.

In Gilgit Baltistan,  69.3% and almost half of the total surveyed students correctly attempted subtraction and division questions, respectively.

The Punjab students topped among all provinces students with only 27.5% students found able to do subtraction and  56.3% students doing division questions correctly.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Turkey. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless :

'''The Alluring Charm And Honour '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless