Programa Proinfância na Paraíba: implicações para expansão do acesso à educação infantil

Abstract

This research deals with the National Program for Restructuring and Acquisition of Equipment for the Public School Network for Early Childhood Education (Proinfância) and the implications for expanding access to daycare and preschool in Paraíba. It aims to analyze the Proinfância Program in the state of Paraíba from 2007 to 2022, focusing on the effects of this Federal Program on one of its goals, which is to ensure access to daycare and pre-school, through the construction of new establishments based on standard projects. The theoreticalmethodological basis was based on historical and dialectical materialism, through the analytical categories: totality, contradiction and historicity. The methodological procedures included bibliographic review and document analysis. The data collection revealed that the Proinfância Program is one of the largest public policies aimed at the Early Childhood Education stage at the federal level. We believe that the program implements the collaboration regime between the federal government and municipalities, having a positive impact on reducing the deficit of vacancies in the country, as it was implemented in all Brazilian states. Regarding the state of Paraíba, it covers the four mesoregions: Agreste Paraibano, Borborema, Mata Paraibana and Sertão Paraibano. However, the 223 municipalities did not implement this program. Of these, 163 joined the program, signing 292 agreements for the construction of daycare centers and preschools. The study pointed out that of this number of agreements signed, 57.87% were concluded and delivered to society, which indicates that Proinfância has been representative in Paraíba, as it contributes to the increase in vacancies and has been essential for the construction of a new identity for Early Childhood Education by allocating spaces built according to School Quality and Infrastructure Parameters, which has positively impacted the quality of daycare and pre-school provision in the municipalities participating in the program. The study demonstrated that the implementation of the program in the municipalities of Paraíba has faced impasses and obstacles that have affected its effectiveness and results, generating an accumulation of 169 unfinished works. Regarding the program's contribution to the expansion of daycare and preschool provision, the data indicated that Proinfância contributed to the expansion of places in the municipalities where it was implemented and the work was completed. However, it could be more effective in increasing vacancies if the unfinished works (42.13%) had been completed and the program had also been implemented in rural areas, as only (1.02%) of the agreements signed were intended to be implemented in the countryside, demonstrating that their contribution to the expansion of daycare and preschool provision in the countryside proved to be insignificant. Therefore, we affirm that the implementation of Proinfância has been relevant for expanding the supply of quality Early Childhood Education, but it has not been at all decisive for the expansion of the provision of Early Childhood Education. Therefore, as Proinfância has been managed and implemented in the Paraíba context, it has partially interfered with achieving the objective for which it was created, expanding the offer and reducing disparities in access to daycare and pre-school. In this sense, we defend the idea that, after 17 years of existence, it is necessary for Proinfância to go through a process of reformulation in order to contribute more effectively to guaranteeing the double right of children and working mothers to access Childhood Education with quality.