Categories: Politics

Pandemic led to a setback in the literacy cycle in Brazil, points out MEC

Pandemic led to a setback in the literacy cycle in Brazil, points out MEC

The Ministry of Education (MEC) released, this Friday (16), data on education in Brazil between 2019 and 2021, years in which the country suffered the most from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the indices, there were losses in all stages of basic education, which returned to the same level as in 2013 – this means a setback of almost ten years in the quality of education in the country.

The test of the basic education evaluation system identified that almost 40% of students reach the fifth year of elementary school without knowing how to identify basic geometric figures, such as square, triangle or circle. In 2019, 30.3% were students in this situation.

“The difficulties were different in public and private schools. They took more forcefully on children in vulnerable situations, as was to be expected, and educational inequalities increased,” said CNN expert Claudia Costin.

According to her, Brazilian education was already “far behind” before the pandemic, with “very large” educational inequalities, but Covid-19 has worsened the reality of the educational framework in the country.

“Now, we have to roll up our sleeves and look very seriously at education, otherwise we will not build a more developed, productive or more equitable Brazil,” he added.

Source: CNN Brasil