Daycare centers: more than 632 thousand children are waiting for places in Brazil

In Brazil, 632,763 children are waiting for a place in public daycare centers and 44% of municipalities have a waiting list for enrollment in early childhood education. The data comes from the national survey “Portrait of Early Childhood Education in Brazil – Access and Availability of Places”, carried out by Gaepe-Brasil (Office of Articulation for the Effectiveness of Education Policy in Brazil), composed of civil society and government entities, including the Ministry of Education.

The study gathers information about the population’s access to early childhood education, which will help create an action plan aimed at expanding the supply of places at this stage of education in the country. The conclusions of the study, conducted from June 18 to August 5, were released this week. Here is the full of the document (PDF – 3 MB).

Early childhood education

Early childhood education, with due access to quality daycare centers and preschools, is a right of all children, and the provision of places is an obligation of the public authorities, both provided for in the Federal Constitution of 1988 and ratified by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in 2022.

Daycare centers are intended for children up to 3 years old, or who are 4 years old if they reach the age limit after March 31 of each year, the date that establishes the age limit for entry into preschool.

In preschool, attendance is mandatory for children aged 4 and 5 or who are 6 years old, completed after March 31, when the child must enter elementary school.

Nursery

All 5,569 municipalities and the Federal District responded to the national survey Portrait of Early Childhood Education in Brazil – Access and Availability of Places, carried out in 48 days. In total, 2,445 (44%) have a waiting list at this stage; 7% did not identify a lack of places; and 184 (3%) do not have a daycare center, according to the 2023 Basic Education School Census.

When considering exclusively the total number of cities with waiting lists for daycare centers, 2,160 cities (88%) report that the main reason is the lack of vacancies.

In the survey, as municipalities were able to mark more than one reason why guardians did not enroll their children in daycare, other explanations appear, such as:

• parents’ choice, understanding that children are too young to go to daycare or that early childhood should be spent with the family;
• lack of knowledge about the registration process and deadlines;
• distance between residence and educational institution;
• lack of adequate transportation, especially in rural areas;
• misunderstanding about the importance of early childhood education; and
• frequent changes of the child’s address.

In the total record of more than 632.7 thousand children waiting for a place in daycare by age group, 123 thousand (19%) are up to 11 months old; 178.4 thousand (28%), 1 year old; 165.4 thousand (26%) are 2 years old; 131.4 thousand (21%) are 3 years old; and 34,300 (5%), 4 years old.

Among the regions, the Southeast has 212.5 thousand children outside of daycare centers. The region is followed by the Northeast (124.3 thousand), South (123.3 thousand), North (94,300) and Central-West (78,100).

Preschool

Regarding preschool, in absolute numbers there are 78,237 records of children who do not attend this stage of education, with 50% (39,042) in this situation because the network does not have vacancies.

In relation to the municipalities, in the age group related to preschool, the percentage of children who should be enrolled is 8%. The main reasons are the failure to enroll by guardians, in 7 out of every 10 of these municipalities; and the lack of vacancies, in 4 out of every 10.

Minimum age

In Brazil, only 11% of municipalities begin providing care to children in daycare centers without setting a minimum age for entry.

In the others, there are stipulated ages: 52% start to care for babies from 1 month to 11 months; 22%, children from 1 year to 1 year and 11 months; 11% from 2 years and 3 years incomplete; and 3% only care for children from 3 years onwards.

Priorities

In the country, 44% of municipalities have criteria for prioritizing care in daycare centers, while 56% ignore these conditions.

The main parameter considered by public education networks (64%) is the situation of risk and vulnerability, which refers especially to children referred by bodies such as the guardianship council, social assistance and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Other factors most often mentioned when defining the order in the queue for a place in a daycare center are:

• children with disabilities, global developmental disorders and special educational needs, such as high abilities or giftedness (48%);
• guardians who work outside the home (48%) during school hours;
• families with a family income (38%), particularly those registered in the Single Registry for Social Programs of the Federal Government (CadÚnico) or beneficiaries of Bolsa Família;
• single mothers and/or teenage mothers (23%), especially those who study or work;
• proximity to home (17%);
• special referrals (9%) determined judicially or by protection agencies;
• order of registration on the waiting list (6%);
• other occurrences (7%), such as the presence of siblings enrolled in the same institution, mothers who work in rural areas and children in institutional care.

Transparency

Municipalities are required to publish the list of vacancies in basic education establishments in their education network, as determined by Law 14.685/2023. However, only 25% make public the number of places available in daycare centers.

Other data disclosed in the survey are municipal actions to guarantee the enrollment and attendance of preschool-age children who are not in the classroom: 68% of city halls actively search for children, but families have not sought assistance, including home visits, awareness campaigns and partnerships with guardianship councils and social workers.

The actions also include the dissemination of awareness campaigns and information about the enrollment period on social networks and other means of communication; the use of computerized systems and data cross-referencing to identify children out of school; and finally, plans to expand classrooms and create additional spaces to serve the target audience.

Federal actions

In response to the challenges outlined in the survey, the Ministry of Education said that, since the beginning of the current administration, it has invested in basic education throughout Brazil, with an emphasis on increasing the number of places and improving the quality of the provision. By 2026, the MEC plans to build 2,500 new daycare centers and preschools through the New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program).

In addition to the New PAC, the National Pact for the Resumption of Basic Education Works aims to complete all stalled and unfinished basic education works.

The MEC’s ​​Secretary of Basic Education, Kátia Schweickardt, said that more than R$1 billion was invested in early childhood education.

“Since 2023, R$592 million has been invested by the Full-Time School Program in this educational stage; another R$492 million has been invested by the Early Childhood Education Maintenance Support Program, and R$93 million has been invested in the Reading and Writing Program in Early Childhood Education. In addition, we have already delivered 378 new daycare centers,” declared.

The Secretary of Intersectoral Articulation and Education Systems, of the Ministry of Education, Maurício Holanda, defends the joint action of the Union, states and municipalities to draw up an action plan.

“At the Ministry of Education, we have undertaken a major task of building increasingly solid interfederative relationships. We need to think about what we can do with and for municipalities to address this scenario,” he said.

Articulation

The executive president of the Articule Institute, Alessandra Gotti, cited the main challenges to be faced immediately to reverse the negative numbers.

“A plan to support municipalities needs to look at the urgent universalization of preschool. In addition, it is necessary to develop a plan to expand daycare places in order to meet all existing demand. If there is a waiting list, immediately prioritize the children who need it most in order to reduce social inequalities.”.

Atricon (Association of Members of the Brazilian Courts of Auditors) advisor Cezar Miola emphasized the need to know the data so that different institutions can assist municipalities: “You can’t control what you don’t know. We need to access this data so we can act on each network.”

With information from Brazil Agency.