Rural Brazil needs education and science – opinion

The United Nations and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) have designated 2022 as the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development. The purpose is to more effectively put biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics at the service of achieving the 2030 Agenda, whose main objectives are poverty eradication, social and economic inclusion, sustainable development, education, decent work, health and food security. .

The basic sciences, which should increasingly drive public policies, are those that have allowed, for example, extraordinary advances in medicine, pharmacology, engineering, infrastructure, the production of vaccines against Covid-19, water supply and drinking water, at meetings Online, and in synthetic meetings. Intelligence, in the advent of 5G, that is coming to Brazil, as well as many other crucial developments for the quality of life. All of this shares a knowledge algorithm, which is essential to enable innovative solutions in response to social, climate, food and energy risks.

No less important for its application by governmental and multilateral organizations and productive sectors is the access of new generations to science, increasingly, through education. In this sense, unfortunately, Brazil lags far behind, not only in terms of the poor quality of public education, but also in terms of the imbalance in its prevalence.

The mismatch was illustrated in a study recently published by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), with very poor media exposure, but highly relevant to tackling the problem.

The work, which deals with the ‘differences between rural and urban education’, reveals that despite the public policies implemented in the past twenty years, the condition of schools in the countryside remains precarious compared to city conditions, with a fundamental lack of libraries, computers and the Internet.

According to the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), Brazil had a population of 200 million in 2015, 84.6% in urban areas and 15.4% in rural areas. In 2019, there were 47.8 million students enrolled across the country, a decrease of 8.9% compared to 2009. In this decade, the decline was most severe in the countryside, with a 20% decrease, according to the 2019 school census. Home to 88.9% Of the Brazilian students that year, 11.1% were rural.

The national school-age population (4-17 years old) in 2015, according to Banad, was less than 44 million, 80% in urban areas and 20% in rural areas. It should be noted that the number of students of school age in the countryside is greater than the number of enrolled students. In other words, there are children and youth who are out of school. There are also cases of students looking for institutions with better conditions in the cities, despite the distance and the difficulty of transportation.

Finally, there are regional differences. While 92% of rural schools in the southern region have microcomputers, these are only available in 27.9% of schools in the north. There is no relevant regional lag in urban institutions. In terms of Internet access, it is available in 86.8% of rural schools in the South, but only in 16.9% of Northern schools and 40.3% of Northeast schools.

It should be noted that the reality highlighted by the IPEA report has had serious consequences for students in rural areas during the pandemic, notes the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep): in the national total, 40% of rural schools fail to provide online lessons. This problem is confirmed by the statistics of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), that 49% of families in rural areas do not have access to the Internet. In cities the proportion is 25%.

It is important to recognize the efforts of mayors, teachers and businessmen in establishing, maintaining and supporting rural schools. As well as the contribution of the National Rural Learning Service (Synar) to the training of technicians to work in the field.

The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development deserves definite attention from the authorities. Access to knowledge and digital inclusion must be equitable and democratic. The lack of quality, physical infrastructure and technology for rural children and youth cannot continue.

The families responsible for the success of Brazilian agriculture have the right – without expanding mass immigration – to provide their children with a quality education, which is the duty of the state enshrined as a basic clause in our Constitution.

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Engineer (School of Engineering of São Carlos – EESC / USP), Entrepreneur, Member of the National Academy of Agriculture (ANA)