The Right to Learn - UNICEF · The Right to Learn Promoting progress and reducing inequalities EXECUTIVE SUMMARY unite for children ThE STATE of ChILdREn And AdoLESCEnTS In BRAzIL

The Right to Learn Promoting progress and reducing inequalities

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

unite for children

ThE STATE of ChILdREn And AdoLESCEnTS In BRAzIL 2009

The Right to LearnEnhancing progress and reducing inequalities

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ThE STATE of ChILdREn And AdoLESCEnTS In BRAzIL 2009

Learning in the Amazon

Going beyond the forest 18

Learning in Brazil

Education for all 8

Challenges

United in the right to learn 26

Learning in the Semi-Arid

overcoming major obstacles 14

data and indicators

numbers reveal progress and challenges 28

Learning in low-income communities

Confronting invisibility 22

This is a summarized version of The State of Children and Adolescents in Brazil 2009 report. The full version can be downloaded at www.unicef.org.br

As a United Nations agency that is active in 191 countries, UNICEF is responsible for partnering with governments and societies in order to understand and address the various vulnerabilities that prevent children worldwide from being guaranteed their rights. The report entitled The State of Children and Adolescents in Brazil 2009 – The Right to Learn: Promoting progress and reducing inequalities is part of the commitment that guides and directs all UNICEF activities in Brazil. This executive summary will highlight the main points addressed in the publication.

The report shows that Brazil has been experiencing significant improve-ment in all indicators that measure primary education accessibility, student at-tendance, student learning experience, and conclusion since the end of the 1990s. An analysis of the Primary Education Development Index (Ideb) reveals progress that deserves being celebrated. Over 70% of all Brazilian municipalities have either met or surpassed the 2007 Ideb goals set by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Education Development Plan (PDE) for the early years of primary education.

Brazil’s ability to improve its education indicators is precisely what allows us to affirm that, yes, universal rights to learn is feasible for all children and adolescents. To ensure that this progress reaches each and every one of them, the nation must give special treatment to its most vulnerable people, thus ac-knowledging and appreciating its diversity. That is why the report identifies inequalities found in the Brazilian education system, especially those related to ethnicity, race, region, socio-economic status, or disabilities.

Making the right to learn universal requires that careful attention be paid to these challenges, that all three levels of government collaborate amongst themselves, and that government increasingly seeks to interact with society. We believe such collaborative action, in conjunction with increased coopera-tion between government and social initiatives, is fundamental to promoting progress and directing it toward effectively reducing inequality.

Marie-Pierre PoirierUNICEF Representative to Brazil

Message from UnICEf Representative to Brazil

FOREWORD

66 THE STATE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN BRAZIL 2009

This report is a follow-up to a set of documents released by UNICEF in recent years on the state of children’s rights in Brazil. The publication entitled The Right to Learn: Promoting progress and reducing inequalities clearly states that Brazil has achieved major progress in education, but still has huge in-equalities in terms of guaranteeing rights to good education.

Looking at education from a rights perspective forces us to acknowledge the link that connects all its dimensions: school accessibility, consistent student attendance, student learning experience, and conclusion at the cor-rect age in each stage of primary education. It invites us to look beyond statistics that, in an average income country like Brazil, hide inequalities that impact a large number of children and adolescents.

Understanding and acknowledging inequalities is a specific strategy in our 2007-2011 Country Programme, the document that sets forth the cooperation directives between UNICEF and Brazil. The Country Pro-gramme delineates territories, specifically the Amazon, the Semi-Arid regions, and the low-income urban communities, in which UNICEF and its partners are to focus their attention and actions. UNICEF uses a strategy called Platforms, which organizes and mobilizes all government and social agents to commit to guarantee the rights of each child and adolescent living in those areas.

The structure of this summarized version and of the 2009 SIAB, follows the action framework proposed by the Country Programme. Its six chapters pres-ent and analyze the situation of the right to learn in Brazil. Three of the six chapters focus on the territories where the Platforms are being developed.

Our partners in these regions and experts on education and rights from around the country, paint a picture that perfectly matches what the title of the report intends to show: considerable progress living side by side with cruel inequalities. We have identified four major conditions where such inequalities for children are especially deep-rooted. They are closely related to:

• Region: there are huge differences between the North and Northeast re-

2009 SIAB Executive Summary

gions and the South and Southeast regions of Brazil; between rural and urban areas, and between the outer and inner limits of large city districts.

• Skin color: most indicators are related to racial and ethnic inequalities, which in Brazil affects especially afro-descendents and indigenous children.

• Age, particularly among adolescents: By analyzing data and indicators according to age, it is evident that adolescents are more vulnerable in terms of school accessibility, being consistent in their attendance, their learning experience and, most of all, completing their primary education at the appropriate age.

• Personal conditions: children with disabilities and those dealing with HIV have less access opportunities and consistency for quality educa-tion, as a result of discrimination.

A DVD is included in the complete version of this publication, which covers the information provided in the chapter on data and indicators.

Since the report was published in June 2009, UNICEF has presented it at several qualified Brazilian forums on public policy debate, design and anal-ysis. Strengthening independent positions and commitments to the trans-formation required to fully guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in Brazil is a key and major goal.

In its presentations, UNICEF has publicly stated the following recom-mendations, to which we are fully committed, and for which we wish to mobilize all strategic players:

• To enhance progress and take a radical stand towards reducing or eliminating inequalities.

• Nobody left behind! To ensure universal rights. • To research and acknowledge children and adolescents in the most

vulnerable situations. • To build and consolidate integration among sectors regarding

public policies. • To deepen the systemic approach to the life cycle of children and

adolescents. • To expand mandatory schooling for children between 4 and

17 years of age. • To invest 8% of the GNP in education. • To exchange learning experiences with other countries, especially in

Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.

INTRODuCTION



UNICEF has chosen to use the Right to Learn as the guideline for its work in education in Brazil. The right to learn is present in impor-tant social organization and private sector outreaches and has increas-ing impact on public education policies in all three levels of gov-ernment. This reflects a change in the analytical focus Brazilian pub-lic education that now goes be-yond mere quantity to seek a more qualitative approach, which natu-rally includes the right to learn.

Brazil has been making large investments to expand access to education since the 1990s, and consequently is now very close to providing universal basic educa-tion to all its children. According to the 2007 National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) carried out by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 97.6% of all children between 7 and 14 years of age are in school, which represents about 27 mil-lion students1.

1 By 2010, primary education will be equal to nine years of schooling and will be mandatory for all children between 6 and 14.

Education for all

The 2.4% that remain out of school may appear to be few, however they represent approximately 680,000 chil-dren between 7 and 14, according to Pnad data for 2007. Those most affected belong to communities of afro-descendents, indigenous, quilombola2, poor, and children with disabilities, as well as of children at risk of violence and exploitation. In other words, the inequalities that exist in society are reflected in the Brazilian education system. Of the total of chil-dren excluded from school, about 450,000 are afro-descendents and most of them live in the North and Northeast regions where poverty rates are the highest in the country and education levels are the lowest.

Guaranteeing universal ac-cess to school faces other ma-jor challenges such as providing young children with daycare or pre-school activities, and 15-17 year-olds with secondary edu-cation. These two groups rep-resent the largest contingent of children not attending school.

2 A “quilombola” is a descendant of Brazilian slaves that lives in a “quilombo”.

LEARNING IN BRAZIL 9


Closer attention is being paid to children up to 5 years of age in Brazil by adopting several measures aimed at ensuring access to daycare and pre-school throughout the coun-try. According to Pnad data for 2007, 17.1% of children up to 3 years of age attended daycare centers and 70.1% of children aged between 4 and 5, are in pre-school. In other words, the closer children are to the age bracket in which schooling is mandatory, the greater their access to education.

The number of adolescents and young adults not attending school is also high. According to the anal-ysis of the 2007 Pnad performed by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), 82.1% of adoles-cents between 15 and 17 years of age attend school. However, 44% of this total have not yet completed primary school and only 48% are in secondary school, which is the ap-propriate level for their age.

Even though the overall pic-ture of education in Brazil has improved in general terms, some community groups are still in precarious conditions in terms of their right to learn. These include rural, indigenous, quilombola, and special needs girls and boys.

In recent years, these groups have been the focus of specific

Teenagers in trouble with

the law have usually failed

in school, or have dropped

out completely. According

to the 2003 national survey

on institutional services

provided to adolescents

in conflict with the law

published by the Institute

for Applied Economic

Research (Ipea), 51% of all

adolescents in detention (the

most severe of all social-

educational measures)

were not attending school

when they broke the law.

Even though 76% of them

were between 16 and 18,

The closer children are to the age bracket in which schooling is mandatory, the greater their access to education

Adolescents in conflict with the law

public policies and actions de-veloped by several civil society organizations, which has led to improved educational indicators. But huge challenges remain to be overcome in order to guaran-tee access to schools and quality education for these children and adolescents.

Children and adolescents in rural areas in Brazil3, including those living in indigenous and quilombola com-munities, are the most vulnerable to the inequalities present in Brazilian education. According to the Status Report on Education in Rural Areas (Panorama da Educação do Cam-po), published by the Anísio Teixeira

3 Throughout this publication, all references to inequalities between urban and rural environments do not indicate a homogeneous point of view of the lives of children and adolescents in these localities. The social and economic inequalities present in each of these social contexts must be considered as well.

National Institute for Education Stud-ies and Research (Inep) in 2007 and based on data from the 2004 Pnad, the average schooling rate among 15-year-olds and up living in rural ar-eas is less than half of the that of the urban population. These differences are huge throughout all Brazilian re-gions, even in those that have much higher schooling rates.

IndIGEnoUS And Quilombola EdUCATIon Several obstacles continue to hamper the right to education for indigenous people groups. Most schools do not have the appropri-ate infrastructure and academic quality is far from satisfactory. Nevertheless, major progress has been made in recent years with the adoption of new policies tar-

in other words, old enough

to be attending secondary

school, almost 90% had

not completed primary

education, and about 6% were

illiterate. These academic

gaps are especially evident

in São Paulo where at least

34% of Brazil’s incarcerated

juveniles are held. According

to information provided

Fundação Casa (Center for


Social and Educational

Service to Adolescents), only

98 of the 3,050 students

enrolled as of April 2008 in

their 131 detention units,

provisionary detention

units, or sanction detention

units, were enrolled in the

appropriate grade for their

age. Almost 97% of them were

at least one year behind in

their studies.


geting indigenous education. The total number of indigenous stu-dents in Brazil reached 176,7144 in 2007, representing a 50.8% in-crease over five years.

There has also been a major increase in the number of en-rollments in the latter years of primary school (5th-8th grade) between 2002 and 2007, which was much higher than in the first years (96% to 29.3%). Growth was significantly greater in sec-ondary school (9th-11th grade), reaching 665% between 2002 and 2007. Nevertheless, the number of indigenous students in these grades remains very small at 4.8% of total students.

The School Census has also been recording the development of education services offered to quilombola communities in the last several years. Between 2005 and 2006, the number of schools

4 Data from the Secretariat for Continued Education, Literacy and Diversity (Secad), Ministry of Education.

located in quilombola areas in-creased by 94.4%, reaching 1,283 units and 161,625 enrolled stu-dents. Generally, however, educa-tion offered in these communities is rather precarious. Schools are often very far from where stu-dents live, do not have appropri-ate infrastructure, and very few of them manage to offer all primary school grades.

ChILdREn WITh dISABILITIES Children with disabilities also face serious exclusion and discrimina-tion. Even though the State is ob-ligated to provide and ensure re-spect and equal rights for everyone, education offered to these children rarely goes beyond primary school. Data from the 2007 School Census confirm the difficulties children with disabilities have to progress in their studies. Whereas 70.8% attend pri-mary school, only 2.5% are enrolled in secondary school.

However, education services have increased in the country as a result of adopting educational inclu-sion policies. According to School Census data, enrollment in Special Education programs have gone from 337,326 in 1998 to 654,606 in 2007, showing an increase of 94%. Meanwhile, enrollment in main-stream education increased 597%,

Education for children with disabilities has increased throughout the country as a result of inclusion policies

going from 43,923 students in 1998 to 304,882 in 2007.

EXpAndInG MAndAToRY SChooLInG Guaranteeing the right to learn in Brazil means making pre-school and secondary school mandato-ry, so as to lend quality and uni-versal access to these education stages as well, and therefore en-sure the full development of chil-dren and adolescents between 4 and 17 years of age. Today, man-datory schooling is limited to the nine years of primary education, geared toward children and ado-lescents between 6 and 14.

Making secondary education progressively mandatory is foreseen in the Education Guidelines and Framework Act (LDB). In order for all children and young people to have access to these levels of edu-cation, completing primary school must be universal as well, both for students at the appropriate age, and for youth and adults that have not had the opportunity to finish. Few children and adolescents have ac-cess to pre-school and secondary school at the appropriate ages.

SECToR InTERACTIonThe concerted efforts of education and public policies are strategical-ly important in guaranteeing the

rights of children and adolescents, and are key to more effectively improve their quality of life.

An example of successful sector interaction is the BPC at School Program, which monitors school accessibility and atten-dance of children with disabili-ties and adolescents up to 18 years of age who are the recipi-ents of the Continued Social As-sistance Benefit (BPC).

BPC’s main outcome in schools so far has been bringing visibility to the educational exclusion of children with disabilities and ado-lescents from low-income fami-lies. In 2007, 262,187, or 70.74%, of 370,313 BPC beneficiaries, were not in school.

Additionally, the concerted efforts of ministries, states, and municipali-ties that joined the program helped meeting the specific needs of these students in an integrated manner that developed their potential.

Universal rights to learn call for an even stronger coopera-tion between the several sectors of public authority, government, and society. This joint effort is es-sential to promoting progress and reducing inequities, thus ensuring that our girls and boys are fully served and protected, as estab-lished by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.



overcoming major obstacles

14 THE STATE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN BRAZIL 2009 LEARNING IN THE SEMI-ARID 15

Since 2004, one of UNICEF’s main pri-orities has been to effectively reduce inequalities in the Semi-Arid1 as a way of contributing to Brazil’s commitment to see all its children and adolescents enjoying full access to their rights. About 13 million boys and girls, of whom over 70% are poor, live in this region, which has some of the worst social indicators in the country.

The Brazilian Semi-Arid (SAB)2 covers 11 states and over 1400 mu-nicipalities. With a territory to the size of France and Germany com-bined, the region is marked by in-equalities and several new and old challenges, such as desertification and global climate changes.3

Education indicators give evi-dence of a context in which the right to learn for many children and adolescents are not protected. Over

1 The pact called A World for Children and Adolescents in the Semi-Arid considers that 1,417 municipalities are part of the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region, based on climate and regional characteristics and on requests for inclusion made by the representatives of these states and municipalities. These include municipalities in the states of Maranhão and Espírito Santo, which are not legally part of the region.

2 The Semi-Arid covers 74.3% of the Northeast of Brazil. Therefore, available data on the region will be used in this paper.

3 “Children and Adolescents: Situation in the Brazilian Semi-Arid”, by Peter Spink and Ilka Camarotti; Public Management and Citizenship Program and UNICEF/2007.

half (53%) of Brazilians above the age of 15 who do not know how to read and write live in the North-east Region. They make up 20% of the population over 15 years of age. Which is twice the national average. The population group has the low-est schooling rates in the country. On average they have only 6 years of education, compared to the na-tional average of 7.3 years (Ipea/Pnad 2007). In the Northeast Re-gion, the school attendance rate for teens between 15 and 17-year-olds is 34% (Pnad 2007), which is much lower than the average for Southern and Southeastern states (55% and 58.8%, respectively).

It takes a child in the Semi-Arid an average of 11 years to complete the 8 years primary education. A significant number of boys and girls do not learn what is expected. In the Northeast, 12.8% of 10-year-olds, who should be completing the initial years of primary school, do not know to read and write, whereas only 5.5% of children in that same age bracket have the same problem nationwide.


The number of children entering primary school in the Semi-Arid states is slightly higher than national rates. The average number of children be-tween 4 and 5 in the region’s munici-palities is 47.3%, compared to a na-tional average of 42.8% (Inep 2007).

In secondary school, the dropout rate is one of the biggest challenges. While the national average, as of 2005, was 15%, six of the Semi-Arid states (Alagoas, Bahia, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Ser-gipe) had rates of 20% or more.

AfRo-dESCEndEnTS And IndIGEnoUS ChILdREn ARE ThE MoST EXCLUdEd The inclusion of afro-descendents and indigenous children in the edu-cation system is another critical issue

in the region. In Brazil, only 1.77% of all white children between the ages of 7 and 14 do not attend school, com-pared to 3.28% afro-descendents and 9.84% indigenous children. In most Semi-Arid states inequality is even more striking. The exclusion of afro-descendents children and adolescents is highest in Alagoas (12.5%), Paraíba (7.14%), Maranhão (6.25%) and Ceará (4.09%). The exclusion of indigenous children is worse in Maranhão (62.5%) and Sergipe (11.11%).

In 2003, the UNICEF survey “Chil-dren and Adolescents in the Brazilian Semi-Arid”4 revealed that the region had the least favorable indicators for the people in that age bracket.

Based on this information, UNICEF began partnering the federal, state,

4 José Farias Gomes Filho, Recife, UNICEF, 2003.

In a multi-level class taught by

teacher Iolanda Maria de Santana,

in a small school in Lagoa de

Itaenga, a small town 64 kms

from Recife, Pernambuco, the

students discuss the difficult

topic of violence with authority.

“Violence means beating your

wife … or your child”, quickly

answers 6-year-old Sandro

Epifânio do Nascimento.

Their learning is the result

of the efforts made in 2008 in

Lagoa de Itaenga rural schools,

located in the Zona da Mata

region of Pernambuco. Based

on the findings that violence

was a reality experienced by

many students at home, the

local teachers developed a

project named Education in the

Field – Educating for Peace.

Contextualized education

LEARNING IN THE SEMI-ARID 17

and municipal spheres of govern-ment and civil society with the goal of changing the situation. This part-nering led to the first edition of the pact A World for Children and Ado-lescents in the Semi-Arid in 2004. The second edition was launched in 2007 and will be in effect until 2010, with a renewed commitment to improving the living conditions of children and adolescents in the Semi-Arid.

UnITEd WE STAnd In ThE SEMI-ARId The UNICEF Municipal Seal of Ap-proval has leveraged the pact at state and municipal levels. The idea was first launched as a strategy to encourage community-based orga-nization and efforts in Ceará, with the first edition taking place in 2000.

Since the fourth edition, UNICEF has expanded the Seal to all 11 Semi-Arid states and elected the Seal as one of the pact’s main tools for so-cial mobilization.

Strong sector interaction is re-quired to stop violations against children’s rights in the Semi-Arid. Ac-cording to the study “Children and Adolescents: Situation in the Brazil-ian Semi-Arid”, coordinated by Pe-ter Spink and Ilka Camarotti (Public Management and Citizenship Pro-gram, Getulio Vargas Foundation), concerted action is already becom-ing a key priority in all major public initiatives, expressed in commitments such as the pact and the joint support for local activities and interactions, as in the case of the UNICEF Municipal Seal of Approval.

The topic was addressed

based on the Educational

Proposal to Support Sustainable

Development – Peads, developed

17 years ago by Serta (Alternative

Technology Service) a non-profit

organization engaged in rural

education. The method is based

on assumptions that a school must

provide knowledge that is useful

to the families and that learning

based on the child’s real life is

much more fun and efficient.

With UNICEF support, the

method is being implemented

in ten municipalities in the

Pernambuco Semi-Arid, through

the project Youth for Education

and Living in the Semi-Arid.

The initiative offers support to

ten schools that were already

involved with Peads, and which

are expected to become reference

points for complete and context-

based education and inspire

the whole school network.



Going beyond the forest

LEARNING IN THE AMAZON 19

Internationally famous for its amaz-ing biodiversity and for the key role it plays in preserving life on the planet, the Brazilian Legal Ama-zon Region presently has over 23 million inhabitants, 40% of whom are children and adolescents up to 17 years of age, according to data from the 2007 National Household Sample Survey (Pnad). The region has the youngest population in the country. Its extensive geographic area of 5,033,072 km2 is also home to several century-old indigenous, quilombola, and riparian commu-nities, in addition to people who have migrated from several parts of Brazil and the world, generating a wealth of cultural blends.

This natural wealth, cultural diversity, and social inequality provides the backdrop for an edu-cational challenge. Even though important achievements have been made in the last 15 years, the states in the Brazilian Legal Amazon still have over 90,000 illiterate adoles-cents and about 160,000 boys and girls between 7 and 14 years of age that are not in school.

According to Pnad (IBGE, 2007), 7.5% of children up to 3 years of age attend daycare in the Northern Region, compared to a national av-erage of 17.1%. Pnad also indicates that access to daycare centers is not fair. The school attendance rate was 4.9% among children living in poor families. Among the wealthier ones, with a monthly family in-come of more than three minimum wages per capita, the school atten-dance rate was 21.1%.

To make primary education uni-versal, government must overcome the obstacles that prevent access to daycare and pre-schools, as well as focus their attention secondary ed-ucation, which is not yet mandato-ry in Brazil. In the northern region, only 36% of boys and girls between 15 and 17 attended secondary school in 2007. Enrollment con-straints are mostly the consequence of socio-economic factors, aggra-vated by the inherent challenges of the school system itself. Poorly qualified teachers, precarious facili-ties, inadequate transportation, and lack of contextualized learning ma-


terials are some of the factors that clearly jeopardize student interest in learning and consequently, keep them in primary school instead of helping them progress towards sec-ondary school.

According to Pnad, 93.2% of all boys and girls between 7 and 14 living in the northern region were enrolled in primary school in 2007, compared to the national average of 94.6%. The percentage of children in this age group who do not know to read and write has been drop-ping as well. In 1997, it was 17.1%. At present, it is 12.1%, compared to the national average of 8.4%.

popULATIon GRoUpS When analyzing education in the Legal Amazon, it is essential to take into account the peculiarities of the most excluded in terms of rights. According to the IBGE (2007 Pnad), the indigenous and afro-de-scendent populations, which rep-resent 75.4% of the inhabitants in the northern region, along with the people living in rural areas, live under the worst indicators in the region. Issues such as school-age children and adolescents who do not know how to read or write and persistent age-grade distortions, that jeopardize entry into second-ary school at the appropriate age, are more severe in these popula-

tion groups. According to the 2007 Pnad, 82.7% of illiterate individuals above the age of 15 in the northern region are afro-descendents – clear evidence of racial inequality.

Here most indigenous school children are concentrated in the initial grades of primary educa-tion. According to the 2007 Edu-cation Census (Educacenso 2007), for every 3.3 students enrolled in the initial years of primary school, there is only 1 in the final grades. In 2002 that ratio was 5.1:1 and in 2006 it was 3.67:1. Data show that there has been a steady increase of primary education being offered in indigenous schools, but they

The question “What am I going

to do in life?” fills the minds of

Brazilian teenagers and young

adults. Experts place part of

the responsibility for the high

secondary school dropout rates

across the country on the lack of

answers to this question and bleak

future prospects. One of Brazil’s

poorest areas is known as Baixada

– Campos e Lagos Maranhenses,

in the state of Maranhão, inside the

Legal Amazon. Here the Centers

for Secondary Education Vocational

Expanding horizons

LEARNING IN THE AMAZON 21

still have a much higher ratio than non-indigenous schools, which is 1.3 students in the initial grades of primary education, to 1 in the final grades. At secondary educa-tion levels, for every 16.3 indige-nous students enrolled in primary schools and Youth and Adult Edu-cation (EJA) programs, only one is enrolled in secondary school or secondary EJA. This ratio was pre-viously 86.4:1 in 2002, which indi-cates a growing trend in access sec-ondary education accessibility.

It must be highlighted that sev-eral programs, along with specific policies targeting indigenous and quilombola populations, are now

starting to incorporate the peculiar-ities of the Amazon region. Since the beginning of 2008, UNICEF has been intensifying its activities in the region through the Amazon Child Agenda. This initiative was based upon the experience gained from the UNICEF Municipal Seal of Approval program, which has been active in the Brazilian Semi-Arid since 2000. The underlying principle is that, if every munici-pality prioritizes children’s rights and implements public policies to ensure them, everyone will take a huge step forward in achieving a present and future with dignity and sustainability.

Training (CEMPs) are trying to

reverse this picture by encouraging

young people to participate in their

communities and by offering them

opportunities to find out what

they want their future to be like.

The centers are part of

an integrated set of actions

specifically tailored to that region

called the Young Citizen program.

The program was developed

by the NGO Formação, which

was established by a group

of community educators in

partnership with UNICEF and the

W.K. Kellog Foundation, and its

headquarters are in São Luis. The

teachers receive ongoing training

and continuous pedagogical

support and follow-up. The

strategic goals of the program are

to encourage youth participation

and local development. One of its

key initiatives is a social incubator

to support young entrepreneurs.

“The idea is to show that they

have other options besides

passing a public service entrance

exam or working on sugarcane

fields in São Paulo”, says Regina

Cabral, who is responsible for

the incubator at Formação.


22 THE STATE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN BRAZIL 2009 LEARNING IN LOW-INCOME COMMuNITIES 23

Confronting invisibilityLess than 100 years ago, Brazilian cities sheltered 10% of the nation-al population. Today that figure is 82%1. Accelerated urbanization pro-cesses in recent years has made life in the big cities much more dynam-ic and produced new architecture, languages, and cultural and artistic expressions. However, these large concentrations of people in big cit-ies have also led to increasingly de-teriorating public services, lack of opportunities, rising unemployment and under-employment rates, deg-radation of the environment and a significant drop in quality of life.

Growing socio-economic in-equalities becomes apparent in how urban territories are occu-pied. The most vulnerable people group themselves in communities that lack basic infrastructure such as sanitation, paved roads, electric-ity, leisure areas, and waste collec-tion services. They have trouble ac-cessing quality education, as well as appropriate health, security and leisure services.

1 Source: O Direito à Cidade, Ministério das Cidades, available at www.cidades.gov.br

There are limited data available on how children’s right to learn is, or is not, being implemented in these communities. The education situation in low-income communi-ties within large urban centers has generally been pictured through studies and surveys focused on violence in the main Brazilian cap-ital cities. Experts addressing the topic are just now beginning to question the impact of violence on early education.

Primary education statistics from low-income communities in large cities are often difficult to obtain due to the lack of regular surveys of the local conditions. The Minis-try of Education indicators, as well as all other data obtained from the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) – which is annually carried out by IBGE – refers to municipali-ties, not neighborhoods or commu-nities. Despite their different territo-rial characteristics, most low-income communities in large urban centers face similar problems: urban segre-gation and unequal opportunities regarding the right to education.


The fact that schools are located in stigmatized neighborhoods can negatively impact the quality of education. Generally the worse the socio-urban conditions, the worse the primary education Development Index (Ideb) rates2. The weaker the pre-school policies, the worse the Ideb scores. The higher the homicide rates, the lower the Ideb scores. For municipalities that have 130 homicides per 100,000 inhabit-ants (average observed in munici-palities in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro), for example, the estimated Ideb score is 3.8 (initial

2 A Dimensão Metropolitana da Questão Social: Ensaio Exploratório, Observatório das Metrópoles and Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano e Regional (Ippur), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2008.

Education for racial equality

“I am black and you are of a different

color, but I shouldn’t look at you

for your color, but for what you

are.” The author of this statement is

Diego Araújo, a 6th grade student.

Diego is only 13, but he can already

understand that prejudice prevents

people from perceiving themselves

as equals: “I wish prejudice would

stop”, states the young man who lives

with his mother and two siblings in

Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro.

Diego is one of the 1,860 students

attending the First Year Integrated

Unit Municipal School in São João

de Meriti, which is serviced by the

Education Territories for Racial

Equality (Tepir) project. The main

goal of the Tepir project is to make

sure law 10639/03 and law 11645/08

are implemented. These laws seek

to include Afro-Brazilian and

Indigenous History and Culture in

official school curriculums.

years), whereas municipalities with 85 homicides per 100,000 inhabit-ants (the average observed in mu-nicipalities outside the metropoli-tan region of Rio de Janeiro) have an Ideb score of 4.0 (initial years).

SChooLS REpEAT CoMMUnITY InEQUALITIES The risk of children living in a low-income community and hav-ing their schooling delayed when reaching 4th grade, for example, is 16% higher than for a child liv-ing in other districts3. Problems in secondary education include

3 A Cidade contra a Escola: Segregação Urbana e Desigualdades Educacionais em Grandes Cidades da América Latina, Letra Capital Editora, 2008, Luiz Cesar de Queiroz Ribeiro and Ruben Kaztman (organizers).

LEARNING IN LOW-INCOME COMMuNITIES 25

a lack of schools located in low-income communities that provide this level of education. Many large communities in Rio de Janeiro, such as Jacarezinho, Maré and Rocinha, do not have secondary education schools4.

These communities also suffer from other serious problems, such as high turnover rates among teach-ers. Physical aggression and drug trafficking or use in schools, for example, can reduce the probabil-ity of keeping the same Portuguese teacher a complete school year by 38%5. Turnover rates among teach-

4 Report Rio Como Vamos: Indicadores da Cidade, 2008.

5 Relação entre Violência nas Escolas e Proficiência dos Alunos, by Edson Severnini, 2007.

ers have a direct impact upon guar-anteeing the right to learn.

None of these problems are new, but they have only be-come a priority in recent years. In 2007, the Ministry of Educa-tion, motivated by the large num-bers of schools with low Ideb scores in larger municipalities, established the Capital Cities and Large Cities Work Group (WG). The WG, coordinated by the Sec-retariat of Primary Education, is a forum that periodically brings to-gether the Secretariats of Educa-tion from state capitals and from cities that have a population of close to 200,000 inhabitants.

UNICEF also expects to help re-duce disparities, discrimination and violations in low-income commu-nities by implementing a Platform for strategic action. Therefore, the Urban Centers Platform aims to en-courage the interaction between communities, society and govern-ment to ensure the rights of chil-dren and adolescents.

The worse the social and urban conditions,

the worse the Primary Education Development

Index scores

In August 2008, Tepir,

supported by UNICEF, offered a

course on Africanity to 58 teachers

from the municipal school network

of São João de Meriti. Trained

teachers become multipliers. The

main goal is to offer teachers more

information on African culture, as

well as alternatives for addressing

the topic in class. In addition to

providing training for teachers,

Tepir has also trained young

storytellers so that they can work

in the communities and

local public schools.


26 THE STATE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN BRAZIL 2009 CHALLENGES 27

United in the right to learnToday society has growing expec-tations about education, not only regarding school access and qual-ity, but also the school’s role in promoting citizenship, respect to diversity, and addressing issues such as child labor, domestic vio-lence and sexual exploitation1.

The school is a key institution in ensuring the rights of children and adolescents, but on its own it will is limited in its outreach. In order for schools to take on their role in addressing the severe problems that affect Brazilian girls and boys and violate their right to learn, they must not only strength-en themselves, but also the whole system for guaranteeing rights, of which schools are a part.

The idea is that schools must work together in an overlapping manner. Otherwise, services for children and adolescents will be segmented and their protection,

1 At the 3rd World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents held in Rio de Janeiro in 2008, the participants determined that schools are the main institution to fight the problem.

which should be complete, will end up being partial and inconsistent.

Although almost 19 years have passed since the Brazilian Statute of the Child and Adolescent was enact-ed, several problems and challenges remain and need to be overcome in order to consolidate the system and truly ensure all children and adoles-cents their full rights as citizens.

In spite of these problems, some progress is under way. In the Semi-Arid region, for example, a study carried out by the Public Manage-ment and Citizenship Program from the Getulio Vargas Founda-tion and UNICEF highlights clear signs of a growing interaction between institutions that have re-sponsibilities regarding child and adolescent rights. According to the study, understanding, at least theoretically, the role of guardian-ship and municipal councils and of their councilors, and their will-ingness to take on active roles in defending the rights of children and adolescents, can help take this subject to a new level.


29DATA AND INDICATORS

numbers reveal progress and challengesThe Primary Education Develop-ment Index (Ideb) was created by the Anísio Teixeira National Institute for Education Studies and Research (Inep/MEC) in 2007 and joins two concepts that are very important for the quality of education in one single indicator: academic progress and performance evaluations. The indicator, with scores from 0 to 10, is calculated based on data regarding academic approvals obtained from the School Census, and from aver-age performances on Inep evalua-tions: the Saeb, for state and nation-al levels, and the Brazil Exam for municipalities. Ideb has expanded the possibilities for mobilizing soci-ety on behalf of education, because the index allows national com-parisons and translates into num-bers the most important education outcomes: learning and progress. This combination balances learn-ing systems in that if one system holds back students to obtain higher quality results in the Saeb or in the Brazil Exam, the flow factor will be altered, pointing to a need for im-provement. On the other hand, if a

system approves students that don’t qualify, the result of the evaluations will have the same effect.

Ideb is also an important chan-nel for public policies geared to-ward improving education. It is a tool for following up on goals laid out by the Education Development Plan (PDE) for Primary Education. The PDE has established a goal that Brazil will reach a 6.0 Ideb score by 2022, which is an aver-age that represents an education system with quality levels seen in developed countries.

Over the last 2 years, more than 70% of all Brazilian municipalities have succeeded in either accom-plishing or surpassing the goals established by Inep/MEC for the early years of primary education. This kind of progress had a positive impact not only on the quality of education, but also on other social indicators related to children and adolescents throughout the country. Nevertheless, many challenges still need to be faced in order to ensure that all children and adolescents have full access to their rights.

Ideb targets

For Brazil to reach the educational quality levels of developed countries, both in terms of proficiency and performance, Ideb must move up from the 2005 national average of 3.8 to 6.0 by 2021 in the first phase of primary education. To monitor this progress and share the efforts implemented to reach such a score, Inep/MEC has established intermediary targets for the nation, states, municipalities, and schools, to be announced every two years until 2021.


66.6%

9.7%17.1%

6.6%

The Ideb map 2007*

Ideb Target Achievements

Municipalities %

Has not reached the target 951 17.1

Reached the target 368 6.6

Exceeded the target 3,703 66.6

No information 542 9.7

* Initial years

REalizaTionUnited nations Children’s fund (UnICEf)Marie-pierre poirierUNICEF Representative to Brazil

Manuel Rojas Buvinich Senior Programme Officer

Office of the UNICEF Representative to Brazil SEPN 510 – Bloco A – 2o- andar Brasília, DF – 70750-521 www.unicef.org.br [email protected]

The State of Children and Adolescents in Brazil 2009

UnICEf TEAM General coordination: Maria de Salete Silva and Pedro Ivo Alcantara Collaborators: Adriana Alvarenga, Alexandre Magno Amorim, Ana Márcia Lima, Ana Maria Azevedo, Anna Penido Monteiro, Andréia Neri, Andreia Oliveira, Boris Diechtiareff, Carla Perdiz, Claudia Fernandes, Conceição Cardozo, Cristina Albuquerque, Daniela Ligiéro, Deborah Ferreira, Eliana Almeida, Estela Caparelli, Fábio Atanásio de Morais, Ida Pietricovsky Oliveira, Jucilene Rocha, Júlia Ribeiro, Halim Girade, Helena Oliveira, Jacques Schwarzstein, Letícia Sobreira, Luciana Phebo, Lúcio Gonçalves, Mário Volpi, Márcio Carvalho, Rui Aguiar, Ruy Pavan, Salvador Soler Lostao, Silvio Kaloustian, Sônia Gama, Victoria Rialp and Zélia Teles photos: João Ripper

pRodUCTIon Cross Content Comunicação www.crosscontent.com.br/[email protected]

Coordination and editing: Andréia Peres Text and reporting: Carmen Nascimento, Eduardo Lima, Iracy Paulina, Laura Giannecchini, Lilian Saback, Patrícia Andrade, Camila Lopes and Mariana Franco Ramos Checking: Todotipo Editorialdesign: Cristiano Rosa and José Dionísio FilhoCollaborator: Patrícia Assis

This publication may be reproduced in full or in part, provided due acknowledgment of the source is made.

United nations Children’s fund (UnICEf)

Printed in Brazil

32 2009 THE STATE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN BRAZIL

The summarized version of the report The State of Children and Adolescents in

Brazil 2009 presents the main achievements and challenges faced by the nation as a

whole in its efforts to guarantee the right to learn. it also provides an overall picture of

education in the amazon, the Semi-arid, and low-income urban communities, which are

considered priority areas by UniCEF.The full version of the report is available at

www.unicef.org.br

United nations Children’s fundoffice of the Representative to Brazil

SEPn 510 – Bloco a – 2º- andar70750-521 – Brasília (DF)

[email protected]

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The Right to Learn - UNICEF · The Right to Learn Promoting progress and reducing inequalities EXECUTIVE SUMMARY unite for children ThE STATE of ChILdREn And AdoLESCEnTS In BRAzIL