IN THE corner of an old warehouse, across the floor from a group of children learning about graffiti art, Valeria Nascimento sits with one eye on her teacher and another on his boom box. When her mentor gives the sign, the skinny 12-year-old draws a big breath and jumps in.

"Hip hop is for learning, it speaks to us," raps Nascimento. "It is fun, it is union."

In today’s Brazil, this is what passes for education. It is not school and it is not play, but a mixture of the two, a new attempt to bolster the precarious learning provided by Brazil’s primary schools.

The school system is in crisis and the lack of funding is so acute the education minister last year encouraged children to march on the capital to demand more cash. Now more and more voluntary organisations are teaching black culture as part of extracurricular activities, giving guidance for the country’s youngest students. Innovative, energetic and committed, their presence is, experts say, evidence that the old methods of teaching no longer work.

"Public elementary schools are scarcely able to teach the basics," said Fernando Rossetti, a former United Nations consultant and an expert on the Brazilian education system. "Civil society in Brazil and in many Latin-American countries is, through non-governmental organisations, organising itself to supplement school teaching for the poor majority. Many of these partner with schools in a complementary way so that schools can concentrate better on its job of teaching the basics."

A number of surveys show that, when it comes to primary education, Brazilian students have a lot of catching up to do. One study, released by the education ministry, found that less than 5% of eight-year-olds could read properly and fewer than 7% had maths skills commensurate with their age.

Programmes like this one aim to give state schools more time to concentrate on those core subjects by taking responsibility for extracurricular activities.

Educators with the Mare Centre for Study and Solidarity (CEASM), an NGO set up by former university graduates in one of Rio’s poorest favelas, now work with eight primary schools, teaching interests such as photography, dance, black culture, theatre and music. They stress that they cannot and do not want to supplant the state schools. Instead, they see their role almost as that of substitute parent.

Unlike children in the United States and Europe, the youngsters who live in this sprawling and often dangerous area do not have access to books, educational toys or even safe playgrounds, much less cinemas, theatres or museums.

"Many of these kids have parents who are illiterate," said project co-ordinator Andrea Martins. "They don’t go home and read.

"We try to show them that there is another world out there. One of our objectives is to broaden their cultural horizons."

Ironically, falling standards may have been fomented by rising school rolls. In 1991, only 84% of Brazilian children attended primary school; today, the number is 94%. The rise has placed tremendous stress on infrastructure, teachers and resources.