New report: The Vicious Cycle of Racial Inequality in Brazilian Education

I wanted to share key findings from our new technical note, The Vicious Cycle of Racial Inequality in Brazilian Education,  with Isabella Dias, Danielle Nascimento, Graciela Perez, and Mateus Rodrigues.  The note examines racial inequalities in Brazil’s education system.   This work was conducted in close collaboration with Zara Figueiredo, the Secretária da Secretaria de Educação Continuada, Alfabetização de Jovens e Adultos, Diversidade e Inclusão (SECADI), and her team at the Ministry of Education (MEC) of Brazil.

The descriptive report reveals a troubling cycle of disparities affecting students from basic education through higher education and into the teaching workforce:

Key statistics that highlight structural inequalities:

• 98.2% of white students in conventional schools have basic infrastructure (water, electricity, sanitation) vs. only 21.1% of indigenous students in indigenous territories
• Of 2.3 million students currently in schools without basic infrastructure, 86% are Black (preto), Brown (pardo), or Indigenous
• 73% of white teachers have permanent contracts vs. only 21% of indigenous teachers
• In Indigenous territories, 70% of schools have no permanent teachers and 48% have no teachers with completed higher education
• White students outperform others in mathematics by significant margins:
  • 0.17 standard deviations higher than Brown students
  • 0.18 standard deviations higher than Black students
  • 0.36 standard deviations higher than Indigenous students

• Black, Brown, and Indigenous students have significantly higher dropout rates and lower college enrollment rates
• On college entrance exams (ENEM), these students score between 0.17 and 0.36 standard deviations lower than white students

Higher Education Patterns:

• Black, Brown and Indigenous students concentrate in lower-prestige majors
• 53% of education students are Black, Brown or Indigenous vs. only 30% in traditional high-paying careers like law and medicine
• Those who become teachers often work in under-resourced schools, perpetuating the cycle

The report emphasizes that while Brazil has made progress in educational access, quality remains deeply unequal. Breaking this cycle requires comprehensive reforms targeting infrastructure, teacher policies, and equitable resource distribution.

Gregory Elacqua

Principal Education Economist

Social Sector

Education Division

Website: gregoryelacqua.com

Email: gregorye@iadb.org

Twitter: @gregoryelacqua

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