The School Attendance and Education from the point of view of “Bolsa Família” Cash Transfer Program beneficiaries

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/19827199981

The “Programa Bolsa Família” (Family Income Program) is a cash transfer policy implemented by the Brazilian federal government in 2003, which it aims to fight poverty. It benefits families with per capita income equal or inferior to R$ 140.00. The program design seeks to face the poverty by articulating actions in two periods of time. In short term, to transfer income directly to the families, acting in the reduction of the so-called absolute poverty. In long term, to fight the so-called intergenerational transmission of poverty by means of conditionality’s associated to health, and above all, education. Regarding education, it is required a minimum school attendance of 85% for children between 6 and 15 years of age, and 75% for adolescents between 16 and 17 years of age. The assumption of this understanding, which ties the transference of income to the school attendance requirement, is that children and adolescents, if entering early in the labor market, would reduce their schooling and therefore drastically reduce their chances of leaving poverty when becoming adults. This article aims to understand how the relation between school frequency and poverty output is established, according to the point of view of the very PBF beneficiary families resident in the south of Campinas municipality (SP), Brazil. The research results indicate that interviewees had no problem to fulfill the conditional education requirements, once none verbalized having had difficulty to obtain school vacancy or access for their children. Thirteen of the fifteen interviewees affirmed that their children would be in the school even if they had not been participating in the Family Allowance Program. However, the higher the children’s age, the more difficult becomes the task to fulfill the requirement, as their speech certify. Regarding the comprehension about education and the role it plays in the confrontation with poverty, the mothers express conviction that education will bring forward possibilities of change either for them or for their children. Nevertheless, with different shades that relate with the schooling of the interviewees themselves. For some mothers, the possibility that one day they or their children attend some “generic” college still is part of their plans. For others, it is the possibility of entering the world of literacy. However, answers denote certain dissatisfaction with the quality of education offered, and regarding this understanding, the expectations are modest on the offered education. More important than the content and experience of school, what seems in fact to make a difference in the future of these children is to go through the pertaining school cycles and get the diploma.

Key-words: Cash Transfer Program, Poverty, School Attendance, Education.