Responsible for defining goals across all stages of public and private education in Brazil, the current National Education Plan (PNE), established by Law No. 13,005 of 2014, is reaching its final year without meeting most of its objectives. Nonetheless, it has contributed to significant progress in school access, particularly in early childhood and elementary education. Researchers argue that this upward trend was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and insufficient funding for the development of public policies.
Focused on universal access to basic education, the first edition of the PNE covered the period from 2001 to 2011. From 2012 to 2014, the country was without a national plan. The current PNE—only the second since the enactment of the 1996 Law of Guidelines and Bases (LDB)—was originally scheduled to conclude in 2024, but the National Congress extended it until December 2025.
According to a survey conducted by the National Campaign for the Right to Education, only four of the plan’s 20 goals have been met. These include expanding enrollment in secondary-level technical and vocational education; improving average scores on the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) across all education levels; increasing the percentage of basic education teachers with graduate degrees; and raising the number of higher education faculty with master’s degrees. The latter target called for the annual granting of 60,000 degrees—a goal surpassed in 2017, but slightly below target in 2022, when 59,300 teachers earned master’s degrees.
The current PNE also determined that, by the end of its term, all Brazilian children aged 4 and 5 should have access to early childhood education. Data from the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research (INEP), published in June 2024 by the Ministry of Education (MEC), show that the country came close to meeting this goal, with 94.6% enrollment. Last year, 5.8 million children in this age group were in school, while another 425,000, equivalent to 5.4%, were excluded from educational institutions.
According to the plan, by the end of the term 50% of Brazilian children up to 3 years of age should be enrolled in daycare. In 2024, however, this rate stood at 41.2%, according to INEP data. That year, 4.8 million children in this age group were enrolled, while 6.8 million were not. Back in 2016, the figure was 3.8 million enrolled children, 31.8% of the total, while 8.3 million were not enrolled.
“Throughout the current PNE, Brazil has improved early childhood education coverage. Although the targets have not been met, we should celebrate the inclusion of more than 1.5 million children up to three years of age in daycare centers,” says Alvana Maria Bof, general coordinator of Educational Studies at INEP and one of the authors of the survey. According to the 2024 Report of the 5th Cycle of Monitoring the Goals of the National Education Plan, however, part of this progress is due to reduced demand, as the number of preschool-age children in the country has declined.
In elementary school, one of the proposals was to universalize access for the entire population aged 6 to 14. The goal was not achieved, but the country did increase enrollment from 96.7% in 2012 to 98% of students in this age group by 2018, according to INEP. From 2019 onwards, however, these gains regressed, and by 2024 the percentage had dropped to 95.8%.
The plan also called for at least 95% of students to complete this stage of education by the age of 16. The figure rose from 68.2% in 2012 to 85.9% in 2024. Another goal was to universalize access to school for students aged 15 to 17. Brazil came close: in 2024, 94.7% of students in this age group were enrolled, compared to 88.8% in 2012. Even so, around 618,000 students aged 6 to 17 still lacked access to educational institutions last year, according to a survey by the National Campaign for the Right to Education (see chart on this page).
For educator Márcia Aparecida Jacomini, from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), the closure of schools in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic was one of the factors that prevented some targets from being met. “Many students dropped out of school or did not receive adequate education due to a lack of access to devices needed to participate in online classes,” she says. Adriano Souza Senkevics, a researcher in education at the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), agrees: “The pandemic interrupted an upward trajectory of expanding access at all stages of basic education,” he laments.
In assessing the PNE, sociologist Maurício Ernica, from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), argues that the failure to meet most of the objectives does not render the plan irrelevant. “The stipulated purposes function as ‘statements of ambition’ and often propose advances that exceed the institutional and budgetary capacities of governments,” he says. “Even so, these formulations serve the purpose of guiding government action and fostering social mobilization.”
However, while recognizing the value of the plan as a normative guideline, Ernica identifies educational inequalities as the main problem with the legacy of the current PNE. According to him, by establishing average attendance rates to be achieved at each stage of education, the plan ends up masking learning gaps between boys and girls, Black, Brown, and White students, as well as students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This is evident in high school, for example (see chart below). In 2023, 55% of young people aged 15 to 17 attended or had completed this stage of schooling, the majority of whom were White. “The percentages of school access among Black and Indigenous students are lower than the national average, and the current PNE does not establish mechanisms to address this issue,” he points out.
In an article published this year in the journal Dados, Ernica and colleagues found that, in Brazil, the increase in IDEB scores in certain schools and school systems is associated with growing inequalities. According to the researcher, this means that improvements in average school performance tend to be driven by specific social groups, such as White students and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, while among Black students and those from lower socioeconomic levels, learning does not follow the same upward trend (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue n° 264).
In this context, the researcher advocates for the creation of public policies directed at students from social groups most at risk of low performance. The study analyzed data on student proficiency in all Brazilian municipalities, as measured by the Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB). For each municipality, the researchers assessed both the overall learning levels of students and the inequalities in learning between social groups defined by race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
“The next plan, scheduled to take effect in 2026, incorporates significant advances in addressing learning inequalities,” says José Francisco Soares, professor emeritus at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). “Among other points, it establishes that disparities in performance between different social groups must be monitored and addressed by education networks,” he adds. According to Soares, because of this change, the IDEB should be replaced or supplemented by a new instrument that not only measures performance levels but also tracks inequalities among social groups. Ernica also emphasizes that the new PNE should highlight educational modalities for rural, Indigenous, quilombola (Afro-Brazilians who are descendants of escaped or freed enslaved people who formed autonomous communities called quilombos in Brazil), and bilingual deaf education.
For Andressa Pellanda, general coordinator of the National Campaign for the Right to Education, the next PNE represents progress compared to the current edition by incorporating objectives focused on historically vulnerable populations. She also notes that the new plan places greater emphasis on digital education, though it still has shortcomings in this area. “Technology education has an instrumental focus, dealing with issues of access and connectivity, but it does not incorporate critical perspectives or objectives related to media education,” she observes.
Other problems with the PNE, which ends in 2025, involve services for students in special education. With the proposal of including 95% of the population aged 4 to 17 with disabilities, global developmental delays, and high abilities or giftedness in regular classes, the plan had reached 41.8% of this group by 2024. In comparison, the equivalent percentage in 2013 was 37%. “The country has made a small advance in the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classes, but has not ensured adequate conditions for their learning,” says Senkevics, from IPEA. “This includes the use of accessibility resources, such as ramps, adapted elevators, and assistive technologies like screen readers and subtitles, as well as the presence of trained professionals to provide pedagogical support to these students.”
A persistent gap, according to Senkevics, is literacy. The PNE set a goal of eradicating absolute illiteracy and reducing the functional illiteracy rate among people aged 15 and over by 50%. Although the country achieved a literacy rate of 94.6% in this segment of the population, functional illiteracy has not declined. This finding is highlighted by the Functional Literacy Indicator, developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Unibanco Institute, and the Roberto Marinho Foundation.
Eduardo Cesar / Pesquisa FAPESPChild at a public school in Osasco, São Paulo State: in 2024, Brazil came close to universalizing access to early childhood educationEduardo Cesar / Pesquisa FAPESP
According to the survey, 29% of Brazilians aged 15 to 64 have remained in this condition since 2009. Absolute illiteracy is defined as the inability to read and write simple sentences in any language, while functional illiteracy refers to the ability to read and write words or short sentences without being able to understand more complex texts or interpret basic everyday information, such as instructions or news.
In higher education, the current PNE set out to increase enrollment of 18- to 24-year-olds in undergraduate programs, as well as to expand their presence in public institutions. In analyzing this objective, researcher José Marcelino de Rezende Pinto, from the Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences, and Languages & Literature at the University of São Paulo (FFCLRP-USP), highlights a positive aspect: over the past 20 years, there has been significant growth in the provision of public higher education, mainly through the creation of federal institutes and universities in remote regions of the country.
“As a result of this process, during the current PNE, enrollment in federal public institutions has more than doubled, with the state network also contributing to this progress. Even so, public institutions currently account for only 15% of higher education enrollment,” says Rezende Pinto, who is vice president of the National Association for Research on Education Financing (FINEDUCA). In Brazil, he notes, enrollment in the private sector, especially through distance learning (EaD), has surged over the last decade, driven by policies such as Student Financing (FIES) and the University for All Program (PROUNI) (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue n° 348).
In this context, Jacomini, from UNIFESP, calls attention to the lack of effective mechanisms for evaluating and monitoring the quality of education offered by some private institutions, particularly in distance-learning programs. According to the researcher, about 70% of the country’s educators today are graduates of this modality, which may negatively affect their training. “In addition, many school systems face difficulties attracting well-qualified professionals, as a career in public education can be less appealing than in some private schools,” notes Jacomini, who examined these challenges in an article published in 2024 in the journal Ensaio: Avaliação e Políticas Públicas em Educação (Essay: Evaluation and Public Policies in Education).
Recognizing the low attractiveness of teaching careers in public basic education, the current PNE established that the average salary of these teachers should match that of other professionals with equivalent education. In 2023, this figure reached 86.9% of the national average salary of workers with the same educational level. This represents an improvement compared to 2012, when teachers’ salaries were 65.2% of those of other professionals with equivalent education. “However, the national average conceals distortions. In some states, parity was achieved only because the salaries of other professionals fell, while teachers’ earnings remained stable,” Jacomini laments.
The lack of resources to finance educational policies is one of the main obstacles to fulfilling the PNE, warns physicist Nelson Cardoso Amaral, from the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) and president of FINEDUCA. He recalls that one of the objectives of the current plan was to gradually increase investment in public education to an amount equivalent to 10% of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the early years of the plan, this type of investment grew, reaching 5.6% of GDP in 2016, according to INEP. However, Constitutional Amendment No. 95, enacted that same year, broke with this upward trend by imposing a ceiling on public spending. As a result, the current figure has fallen back to the 2012 level of 5.1%. “The federal government’s austerity policy has undermined the budgetary foundation of the PNE,” says jurist Salomão Ximenes, from USP and coordinator of the Greater ABC Educational Policy Observatory, funded by FAPESP.
Léo Ramos Chaves / Pesquisa FAPESPStudents at a school in São Paulo. Researchers advocate the creation of a national system to measure the goals of states and municipalitiesLéo Ramos Chaves / Pesquisa FAPESP
In addition to the shortage of resources to meet objectives, Rezende Pinto points to the existence of a federal imbalance in education funding. In an article published in 2024 in the journal Educação e Sociedade (Education and Society), he argues that although municipalities are responsible for covering more than 60% of the costs of basic education enrollment—including the most expensive stages, such as daycare and rural education—more than half of the tax revenue remains with the federal government. “Of every R$5 invested in education, only R$1 comes from the federal government,” he calculates. The researcher believes the federal government should increase the share of resources allocated to education that are transferred to states and municipalities. Moreover, although the next plan reiterates the country’s commitment to invest 10% of GDP in public education, it limits this funding target to basic education, excluding higher education.
Sociologist Luiz Fernandes Dourado, from UFG, stresses the importance of establishing the National Education System (SNE) to ensure effective federal cooperation in education. Provided for in the 1988 Federal Constitution and in the current PNE, this system should have been implemented in 2016. Its purpose is to promote cooperation among education networks through coordinated action by the federal government, states, the Federal District, and municipalities, under the guidance of national and subnational commissions.
In March of this year, the Senate approved Complementary Law Project (PLP) 235 of 2019, which establishes this system. The bill is currently under review in the Chamber of Deputies. According to Dourado, the SNE would enable greater coordination of educational policies and programs, establish clear commitments, and define the specific contribution of each federal entity to achieving national objectives. Dourado is also president of the National Association of Education Policy and Administration (ANPAE).
According to Talita Nascimento, director of government relations at Todos Pela Educação, holding managers and federal entities accountable for failing to meet targets should be understood as a way to ensure continuous monitoring of the plan’s implementation, rather than as a form of punishment. “We advocate the creation of mechanisms to guarantee transparency at all levels of government,” she says. This includes requiring executive leaders, such as mayors, governors, and the president, to report directly to legislative bodies on educational initiatives.
The story above was published with the title “Partial progress” in issue 354 of August/2025.
Projects
1. Curricular changes and improvements in public education (n° 21/11390-0); Grant Mechanism Public Teaching Program; Principal Investigator Márcia Aparecida Jacomini (UNIFESP); Investment R$197,344.69.
2. Educational Policy Observatory: Regional planning and democratic governance for educational quality in Greater ABC (n° 23/10239-2); Grant Mechanism Public Policy Research; Principal Investigator Salomão Ximenes (UFABC); Investment R$760,706.15.
Scientific articles
AMARAL, N. C. O financiamento da educação no documento final da Conae 2024. Retratos da Escola. Vol. 18, no. 41. 2024.
BARBOSA, A. et al. As metas 17 e 18 do PNE (2014-2024) e a valorização do magistério no Brasil. Ensaio: Avaliação e Políticas Públicas em Educação. Vol. 125, no. 32. 2024.
ERNICA, M. Desigualdades educacionais no Brasil contemporâneo: Definição, medida e resultados. Dados. Vol. 68, no. 1. 2025.
FARENZENA, N. & REZENDE PINTO, J. M. Potenciais e limites do Fundeb para financiar as metas do Plano Nacional de Educação. Educação e Sociedade. Vol. 45. 2024.
Reports
Novo Painel de Monitoramento das Metas do Plano Nacional de Educação 2025. Brasília: MEC/Inep, 2025.
10 anos do Plano Nacional de Educação: Análise final da execução dos artigos, metas e estratégias da Lei nº 13.005/2014. Campanha Nacional pelo Direito à Educação, 2024.
Análise sobre o Projeto de Lei referente ao novo Plano Nacional de Educação (PL 2.614/2024). Todos pela Educação, 2025.
SENKEVICS, A. et al. (eds.). Cadernos de estudos e pesquisas em políticas educacionais. Contribuições ao novo Plano Nacional de Educação II. MEC/Inep, 2023.
