Brazil still faces significant challenges in the supply of basic infrastructure in public schools, according to data released on Thursday (25) by the Brazilian Basic Education 2025 Yearbook, prepared by Todos by Education, Santillana Foundation and Moderna Editora. Less than half of the units have access to sewage, more than 20% do not have garbage collection and only 38.7% of classrooms have some kind of air conditioning, such as air conditioning or heater. Minas Gerais has the lowest rate in the country (11.7%), while Rondônia leads with 91.4%.
For Gabriel Corrêa, director of public policies for all for education, “the absence of basic infrastructure is directly linked to learning conditions. In the north, logistics and operational costs make the situation even more critical.” “There have been a lot of advances in the country, but there are regions where the situation remains critical. In the case of the north, for example, these factors are even more complex, and it is essential that policies take into account the Amazonian factor, that is, the additional logistics and operational costs that the region imposes.”
Among the less prepared regions for the weather, the Southeast (21.5%) has the lowest rate, while the Midwest (64.2%) has the highest index. Still regarding climate control in the classroom, states such as São Paulo appears with the lowest percentage (12.4%) and Rondônia, with the largest (91.4%). Check out the.
In an exclusive interview with CNN BrazilIvan Gontijo, NGO Educational Policy Manager for Education, points out that the agenda known as resilient education for climate change is characterized by two major issues. “What to do to protect schools and children’s learning in the face of events such as the floods of Rio Grande do Sul or in the pandemic. And how does the school dialogues with this world in transformation and with climate change?”
A possible path, according to the expert, is precisely in the adoption of environmental education in the school curriculum. “It is important to bring these discussions into the school to create more conscious citizens, because the fact is that the world is getting warmer and this is a challenge, especially in the Brazilian case, which is a tropical country.”
The expert also points out that critical climate events impact not only learning, but contribute to factors such as abandonment and dropout. “An institution that welcomes the student not only meets basic principles. That is, air conditioning is not a matter of luxury, but strictly necessary agenda, because if it is not fulfilled, depending on contexts, students will be away from schools.”
As for technology, 44% of public schools are connected with appropriate parameters for pedagogical use in the classroom. On the other hand, 4.6% have no connection or even reliable electricity, making it difficult to implement digital or hybrid classes.
Inequality in Education
The report also highlights how the learning inequality among white, black, indigenous and yellow students accentuated between 2013 and 2023. While 91.5% of young whites conclude elementary school at 16, this index drops to 83.5% between the browns and to 80.9% among blacks.
The lag is even higher among high school students, where at 19 years 79.4% of whites completed this stage, compared to 66.6% of brown and 62.1% of blacks.
Inequalities also manifest themselves at learning levels, with white and yellow students by registering performance higher than black, brown and indigenous students in Portuguese and Mathematics assessments.
The survey also brings as the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic are still reflected in learning levels. Only 37.2% of students in the 5th grade of public elementary school have adequate learning in Portuguese and mathematics, lower than the pre-pound. Among 9th grade students, only 13.3% reach adequate learning, and in the 3rd grade of high school, this percentage drops to 4.5%. Despite punctual advances, the rate of students with adequate learning in mathematics and Portuguese language remained at 7.7% in 2023, statistically similar to 2021.
Access to Early Childhood Education improved between 2014 and 2024. The registration of children from 0 to 3 years went from 29.7% to 41.2%, the largest percentage ever recorded. Still, 19.7% remain out of the network due to lack of day care centers, distance to units, absence of vacancies or refusal by age. Among children aged 6 to 10, the registration rate in the early years of elementary school was 93.3% in 2024, the lowest level of the historical series for the second year in a row.
Youth and Adult Education and Functional Illiteracy
The Brazilian Yearbook of Basic Education 2025 also points out that access to EJA (Youth and Adult Education) has fallen 34.5% in the last decade, totaling 2.4 million enrollment in 2024, 140,000 integrated into vocational education. On the other hand, the average education of the 18 to 29 -year -old population rose to 11.9 years, and functional illiteracy between people aged 15 to 64 fell from 37% to 29% in two decades. Among men, the index is 32%, among black people, 26%, and among those with education until the early years of elementary school, 82%. Even among those who completed high school, 17% remain functional illiterate.
Teacher training has advanced in the last decade
In the early years of elementary school, 75.3% of teachers have a degree or pedagogical complementation in 2024, compared to 56.6% in 2014. However, 19.4% of preschool teachers do not yet have a higher diploma. As for remuneration, 68.5% of municipalities paid at least at least the national teaching floor for 40 hours per week, in the amount of R $ 4,420.55.
The 12th edition of the Brazilian Basic Education Yearbook expands monitoring, incorporating data from the private network and consolidating indicators such as the literate child, which reinforces the commitment to learning at the right age. “Gathering and organizing data with technical rigor is essential to guide public policies and strengthening the right to learning across the country,” says Priscila Cruz, executive president of all for education. The survey confirms that while the country has advanced in some indicators, structural inequalities of infrastructure, learning and racial equity continue to compromise the quality of basic education.
