After an acute period of the covid-19 pandemic that “widened the inequality gap” in access to day care centers and preschools, the president of the National Union of Municipal Education Directors (Undime), Luiz Miguel Garcia, sees the positive increase in enrollments indicated in the last School Census, released today (8). Municipal Director of Education in the city of Sud Mennucci, in São Paulo, Garcia considers, however, that it is necessary to ensure that this resumption reduces disparities and guarantees quality vacancies. “The return on the number of enrollments is very encouraging, positive and challenging and shows that education continues to be a concern for families in all social strata. What we need is to reduce this inequality gap and guarantee that families of black children, poor and peripheral areas have access to day care, and that this access is close to their homes, respecting their culture and respecting the physical conditions of a child, who cannot travel so far that he or she becomes tired and weakened.” Garcia assesses that Brazil spent a long time without an effective and careful policy for generating vacancies in daycare centers, and the federal government now needs to support the creation of vacancies close to the most vulnerable families, since inequalities were aggravated by the covid pandemic -19. This intensification, he points out, has to do with the increase in informality in the labor market. “Informal work does not allow for planning and organization, which implies breaking the child’s routine and, for children’s learning, it is very important”, he explains. “Even if there are vacancies, many times she is unable to take the child to school. And this movement ends up causing the child to accompany her and go to work with her mother on the street, doing housework that allows, and staying out of school. It’s a form of exclusion.” Preschool A survey carried out by the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and Undime showed that, in 2019, school attendance at preschool for white and yellow children reached 93 .5%, while that of black, brown and indigenous women was 91.9%. Poor children were also more disadvantaged: their attendance was 92%, while, in other income brackets, the average was 94.8%. Factors that indicate the mother’s social vulnerability also affect school attendance at preschool, according to the survey: children of women who became mothers under 20 years of age, with less schooling and with informal jobs, have lower attendance at preschool, on average. . For the Foundation’s CEO, Mariana Luz, “this indicates that the problem is not exclusive to access to education, but also to the emancipation of women and black people, in addition to breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty”. Resumption The 2022 School Census shows that enrollment in daycare centers, which had retreated between 2019 and 2021, grew last year. Compared to the previous year, the increase was 8.9% in the public network and 29.9% in the private education network, surpassing the rates observed in the pre-pandemic period in both networks. There was also an increase in preschool, and, in basic education as a whole, 47.4 million students were registered – 714 thousand more students than in 2021. The entities responsible for research on inequality in access to preschool point out that municipal managers must plan the expansion of vacancies, with special attention to the most vulnerable public identified in this study; identify and locate children who are not enrolled in preschool, using strategies such as active school search; and sensitize families to the importance of Early Childhood Education; Intersectoral actions are also considered necessary, integrating health, social assistance and education in promoting the right to preschool. Managers should also seek support from state and federal policies. When disclosing the research, UNICEF’s Early Childhood Officer in Brazil, Maíra Souza, reinforced that black and poor children are historically more vulnerable in Brazil. “Black and poor children who do not attend preschool have less access to stimuli, interactions, food and safety. This can compromise development, impact progression and transition to subsequent teaching stages, in addition to reproducing inequalities that delay our country”.
Agência Brasil
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