National goal of comprehensive education may not be reached until 2024; understand

Only 27% of Brazilian public schools offer full-time education. This statistic presents a different reality from what was defined by the Federal Government in the National Education Plan (PNE).

According to the objectives of the PNE, by 2024, 50% of institutions in the public network must offer full-time education. However, data released by the NGO Todos Pela Educação shows that the growth of the modality has been below expectations since 2013.

Now, in 2023, the Federal Government has announced measures to encourage enrollment in the integral education. The new goal aims to reach 3.2 million public school students with full-time education by 2026.

But, for Ivan Gontijo, manager of Educational Policies at the NGO, it is unlikely that the goal will be reached. For him, the main obstacle is the lack of investments, because the integral modality presents a high expense.

“The cost is two to three times higher than the part-time enrollment and the main factor is food,” said Gontijo to the news portal Poder 360.

In the integral teaching modality, the school must offer curricular activities, complementary actions and assistance to the student, such as food, for example.

The goals of the National Education Plan

Goal 6 of the PNE is the text that defends the importance of comprehensive education in the country. The government text was approved in Law 13.005/2014 and states that the national objective is:

“Offer full-time education in at least 50% (fifty percent) of public schools, in order to serve at least 25% (twenty-five percent) of the students of education basic”.

However, the decree is valid for 10 years, that is, the goal must be reached by 2024. However, full-time education has grown by only 5.7% since 2013.

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Comprehensive education in the public network in Brazil

Although the project presents education incentive strategies, its implementation still encounters several financial and structural obstacles that prevent its expansion.

For example, teachers and other education professionals need to be prepared and available to meet a full teaching demand.

Gontijo reinforces that partial teaching units have up to three shifts, while full-time schools only have one. Therefore, the institution must have the infrastructure to deliver curricular and extracurricular activities.

Despite this, the national comprehensive education plan has the power to provide quality education and experiences capable of developing much more than the traditional curriculum.

However, so far, the full-time education project in Brazil has not received the structure and investments necessary for the goal to be achieved by 2024.