CRECHE
PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION
The offer of crèches (for children from 0 to 3 years of age) was not included in the expansion of basic education established in the Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution - PEC 277/08, announced by Congress this year, which reinforces the obligation of the State to increase the availability of pre-school and highschool education within five years. Inclusion begins in the first year, when the placements will come to be offered to children and adolescents in the age range from 4 to 17 years, instead of from 6 to 14 years.
The Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution - PEC, approved this year, states that children must start school (kindergarten – 4 to 6 years of age) at the age of 4.
With regard to the mandatory nature of pre-school education, the earlier age at which the children are obliged to start school means a greater commitment to early childhood on the part of the State. It also represents the possibility of good quality schooling for small children, considering the reality of the families: women at work, nuclear families and single-parent families. With the concentration of resources for children over the age of four years, the children aged from 0 to 3 may come to be less favored. This concern is explained by the fact that the offer of crèches is much lower than the in the other levels of schooling, although data published by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) indicates an increase in availability in Brazil. In 2002, 11% of the children were attended. In 2008, this percentage reached 18%. The forecast is that the rate will have reached 20% in 2009. While pre-school education reaches 73% of children and elementary education reaches 98%, crèches are only available to 18.1%.4 Also, it is at this level of schooling that social inequality is most visible, since the low-income population has no means of paying for a crèche and the offer of public crèches is very low. Given these facts, Brazil is far from reaching the goals set in the Plano Nacional de Educação - PNE (National Education Plan) for child education. In accordance with that document, the goal for coverage is 50% by 2011. According to data from the 2008 Census, despite the fact that enrolment in crèches had risen by 10.9% for that year, the rate of attendance was still precarious. To achieve the goal for placements in crèches, Brazil needs to enroll more than 1 million children by 2011. From 2007 to 2008, the number of entrants to this stage of education failed to reach even 200 thousand.
Rate of Attendance (%) in Crèches Year of Reference: 2008
18,1 8,4 14,9 15,4 22,0 24,6
According to data from the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios –PNAD (National Household Survey) for 2008, the rate of schooling among children between the ages of 4 and 5 years stood at 72.8%. This means that there is still a need to get more than 25% of the children within this age range into schools. This is a change that municipal and state networks will have to gradually implement by 2016. Brazil lags behind other countries. The first law stipulating compulsory education in the world was passed in Germany at the beginning of the 18th century. While in Brazil, the first law stating that parents are obliged to enroll their children in school and that the State is obliged to offer schooling is in the Constitution of 1988, wherein education is a subjective public right. However, it does not ensure free, good quality public schooling for all. Also, a survey carried out by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics)5 shows that family income is determining factor in relation to school attendance, and it increases in accordance with the level of income. In families with per capita incomes of up to half a minimum monthly wage the rate of school attendance among children corresponds to 77.1%, and in families with incomes of more than three minimum monthly wages per capita, it is practically universal (98.8%).
Brazil North North-East Mid-West South-East South
Source: IBGE, National Household Survey 2008
4. Basic Education Census - 2008 5. Summary of Social Indicators 2008 – An Analysis of the Living Conditions of the Brazilian Population
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