When the work-day ended at the Reduc oil refinery on the outskirts of Rio one day last month, most of the complex's 8,000 workers made their way home through the heavy spring rain.

But the day wasn't over for more than 100 laborers and service workers, who headed to the company cafeteria for career-development courses. There, in the cavernous hall, they got down to work. Some were learning to read and write for the first time. Others were doing primary school-level science. A few were even trying to master basic English commands.

Such scenes of adult education inside factories and businesses are increasingly common across Brazil these days. With the education at state schools little short of risible, the pool of professional companies such as Petrobras – the state-owned oil company that runs Reduc – are taking on the role of educators. Heeding the warnings of economists and development specialists who fear that low standards of literacy, math, and science are compromising Brazil's productivity, competitiveness, and even economic growth, employers are doing something about it.

"Companies are taking up the role of the state and offering education," says Fernando Guimaraes, the director of SESI, an industrial organization that coordinates programs like the one at Reduc. "There's no doubt that the number of students we've got has risen fantastically."

Brazil's low education standards have a doubly ruinous effect on Brazilian companies, according to experts and CEOs. Many struggle to find competent people to fill even entry-level positions, as many applicants cannot read or write or add or subtract to acceptable levels.

But even those who are employed often lack the creative spark and mental agility that can make the difference between profit and loss.

"There are two conceptual frameworks to understand innovation," says Alberto Rodriguez, the author of a soon-to-be-released World Bank study on how better education spurs faster growth. "You have the high-tech, frontier innovation and you have the adaptation and improvement of technology that happens day-to-day in firms. By improvement of a process, you reduce costs and become more competitive."

"In 1960, Korea and Brazil had the same per capita income. Today, Korea has about 5 times more per capita income than Brazil. Most of the growth in Korea in this period can be attributed to improvements in total factor productivity: the same people with the same resources operating more efficiently. And that is what Brazil needs."

Last year, Korea's GDP grew 4 percent and Brazil's grew 2.3 percent. It was a similar story with other developing nations. Russia, India, and China – all emerging powers frequently compared with Brazil – grew faster and all reported higher education standards.

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