Study shows difference in education between blacks and whites – 12/13/2023 – Education

In the last decade, the quality of education received by black people in Brazil has advanced. But this was not enough to resolve racial inequality in the country’s education, points out a new study carried out by Cedra (Center for Studies and Data on Racial Inequalities).

According to the researchers, black students had similar rates in 2019 to what white students had in 2010.

The pass rate of black high school students, for example, grew from 74% to 84.3% in the period analyzed, while that of white students went from 81.9% to 89.4%. In other words, the difference between them decreased from 7.9 percentage points to 5.1.

A similar effect occurred in the rate that measures whether students are in the correct grade for their age. In 2010, 20% of black students in elementary school were behind, a rate that fell to 13.6% in 2016. Among white students, the reduction was from 8.2% to 6.2%.

“The age-grade distortion occurs since elementary school 1 and 2 and these differences accumulate over the years, increasing distances in other grades”, says Marcelo Tragtenberg, member of Cedra’s Deliberative Council.

In high school, the decrease was from 44.1% to 31.2% among blacks, compared to a drop from 23.4% to 16.9% for whites, according to the study.

This ends up being reflected in EJA (Youth and Adult Education), a stage in which there were 28 black students for every 10 white students in 2019. “The very large age-grade distortion in elementary and secondary school is leading students to EJA, where 75% of declared students are black”, he says.

For Cristina Lopes, executive director of Cedra, the data shows that despite advances in education in general, the distance between the two groups continues to exist. “Hence the need to always look beyond the statistical average and implement educational policies focused on black students so that education truly advances for everyone,” she says.

To reach these results, the researchers crossed data from the School Census (Basic Education) from 2010 to 2019 and from Pnad (Continuous National Household Sample Survey) from 2012 to 2019.

The study also shows that inequalities also affect the racial profile of schools. In 2019, predominantly white teaching units (with 60% or more white students) had 62.2% of teachers with adequate training —a degree in the area in which they teach— and, in those where the majority are black students, the percentage fell to 33.2%.

The study also points out that the proportion of black people over 15 years of age without education or with incomplete primary education fell from 46.7% to 37.7%, while that of white people decreased from 33.1% to 26.8%. Thus, the difference between the two groups was reduced from 13.6 percentage points to 10.9 percentage points.

This percentage is higher among women over the age of 15: the number increased from 13.6% in 2012 to 10.9% in 2019.

However, despite the reduction in inequality between black and white women, over 15 years old and without education or with incomplete primary education, the educational delay has not been corrected.

With the approval of the Quota Law for access to higher education in 2012, there was a change in the profile of those who access graduation, with an increase in black people. The study, however, shows that inequality still exists at this stage, the study shows.

The survey shows that the proportion of black women in higher education, for example, rose from 15.2% in 2016 to 16.9% in 2019.

The number of white women remained practically stable during this period (from 29% to 29.4%), but remains almost double that of black women.

In 2012, only 6.6% of black people over the age of 25 completed higher education, compared to 18.7% of white people. In 2019, the distance remained practically the same, with rates of 11.1% for black people and 25% for white people.

“The Quota Law in higher education presented effective results, which demonstrates that affirmative actions in education work. However, we need to strengthen policies to support the permanence of black students in universities until their completion”, says Tragtenberg.

Racial inequalities in education

In 2019

• For each 28 black people enrolled in EJA, there were 10 white students
• For each 12 blacks enrolled in secondary and elementary education, there were 10 white students
• Every 10 black children in early childhood education, there was 10 white children
• Between 2010 and 2019, the high school pass rate among blacks was 78.5% and among white students 85%

Basic Education in 2019

• For each 15 black students were 10 white people in the public network
• In the private network, there were 6 black students for each 10 white

Source: Inep. Basic Education School Census