The Brasil Carinhoso action as a strategy to expand the provision and reduce the educational inequalities in nursery schools

Abstract

One of the indicators of educational inequalities in Brazil is the poor access to schooling from early childhood education on, especially in poverty contexts, where small children have historically had the right to education denied. This article intends to analyze some of the effects that an intersectoral policy has been producing on the expansion of the enrollment in nursery schools through the transfer of additional funds, specifically concerning the rights to early childhood education of children with poverty backgrounds and whose families are beneficiary of the Bolsa Família Program. This analysis used data from the School Census, the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE) and the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation (MDS), seeking to identify the information concerning the fund transfers sent to municipalities and to the Federal District in 2014, aiming to analyze what these funds represented on the expansion of the provision of nursery schools services and on the enforcement of the educational rights for early childhood education. The data analysis allowed the conclusion that the fund transfers resulted in an expansion of the provision of nursery schools placements, which is reflected on the growth of the enrollment ratios that followed the adhesion of the municipalities to this policy. Nevertheless, this growth is not enough for an effective reduction of educational inequalities in early childhood education because, as the data analysis showed, the most vulnerable population still does not have their right fully guaranteed.