Guaranteeing Social Equality and Inclusiveness

Unequal educational opportunities  are one of the central mechanisms perpetuating social inequality in Brazil. While recent years have seen improvements towards social diversity and inclusiveness, this progress is now under threat.

 

While the average number of years of schooling per capita has steadily increased since 1990, the Brazilian national average remains under 8 years. Similarly, while the percentage of adults with at least some secondary education has tripled within the same time frame, it still hovers at only 60%.

 

Half of the spots in federal universities are reserved for students from public high schools. These are allocated according to ethnic groups’ percentage of the population as a whole. Many public state universities, some of which are among the most prestigious in Latin America, also follow similar affirmative action policies.

 

Nevertheless, only one out of four university students in Brazil  is enrolled in a free, high-quality public university, and these numbers are far lower for Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous populations. While the percentage of Afro-Brazilians with access to higher education grew from 5.5% in 2005 to 12.8% in 2015, this number still lags behind the 26.5% of white Brazilians with access to university. People who identify as black or mixed-race represent roughly half of the Brazilian population but comprise less than 10% of university graduates. And within universities themselves, women and Afro-Brazilians are concentrated in disciplines that are less valued by the labor market.

 

Current attacks on affirmative action programs threaten this already limited inclusiveness.