University of São Paulo: Brazil’s High Illiteracy Rates Linked to Inequality, History, and Politics, Study Finds
The illiteracy rate in the Northeast region is twice the Brazilian average, and Bahia has the highest number of illiterate people, according to a survey based on data from the 2022 IBGE Demographic Census. There are approximately 1.420 million people over the age of 15 who cannot read or write in the state, representing 12.6% of the population. In Brazil as a whole, there are 9.3 million illiterate people, representing 7% of the population.
Professor Emerson de Pietri, from the USP School of Education, indicates where the discussion should begin: “We live in a country where economic inequality is a constitutive feature.” He adds: “This reality of challenges that we have faced historically is necessarily reflected in educational processes.”
Social inequality
The professor explains that it is no coincidence that the lowest literacy rate is in the Northeast, a region whose Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.659, compared to the Brazilian average of 0.758. Meanwhile, the region’s GDP per capita is R$21,500.00, half the national average. “When we think about schooling processes, especially literacy, we can never disregard the economic conditions that are involved in this process,” says Pietri.
“When we consider that the Northeastern states have historically faced greater challenges in developing from an economic point of view, we also understand why the schooling processes in these regions take a little longer to be carried out and consolidated in a more satisfactory manner,” he adds.
Historical process
Emerson de Pietri also comments on how this issue can be understood over time. Social inequality between regions is a consequence of factors that date back to the end of slavery, when policies to whiten the population took priority over caring for black people. “The Brazilian state adopted a policy of exclusion of these previously enslaved populations, and what we see today in Brazilian education is a result of this historical process,” he explains.
Regarding why the Northeast was the most affected, he adds: “The whitening of the country was more effective in the states of the Southeast. This also helps us understand why we have lower illiteracy rates in these states and higher ones in the Northeast.” According to him, these migration policies ensured a minimum level of reception structure for these populations that arrived in Brazil; the opposite happened with the Afro-descendant populations, many of whom are concentrated in states such as Bahia.
Demography
To this end, the Ministry of Education launched the National Pact for Overcoming Illiteracy and Qualifying Youth and Adult Education. The aim is to break the cycle of illiteracy and provide better educational conditions through public education. The situation began to improve at the end of the last century, when free basic education became widespread.
Even though several criticisms can be made of the system, the impact that the provision of public education has had is undeniable. In the current scenario, 39% of illiterate people are 65 years old or older and 25% are between 55 and 64 years old. As age decreases, the rate also drops: 18% between 45 and 54 years old and people between 15 and 19 years old who are illiterate represent only 2.4%. In other words, a large part of illiterate people are people who spent their childhood when schooling was not democratized, and for this reason Emerson de Pietri also emphasizes the importance of continuing to invest in and improve the service.