Infâncias do campo e Covid-19: um estudo sobre os reflexos da pandemia na vida de crianças residentes em áreas rurais de um município do Sertão Paraibano.

Abstract

Socially integrated, children are affected by social events to a greater or lesser extent, permeated by social markers of difference. In Brazil, in a context of social policies weakened by the adoption of austerity policies, followed by a denialist government, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities, impacting children's lives in various ways. Given the above, the research has the general objective of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of children living in rural areas of a municipality in the Sertão region of Paraíba. The specific objectives are: a) to determine the COVID-19-related actions in the areas of education, health, and social assistance directed at rural children in the municipality studied; b) to identify whether and how rural children were considered in the planning and implementation of COVID-19-related actions in the municipality studied; and c) to understand how rural children in the municipality studied experienced the pandemic. This dissertation is part of the research project "On the other side of the margin: challenges and proposals for addressing social inequalities among children during the pandemic," funded by CAPES, and linked to the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Campina Grande (PPGEd/UFCG) and the Study and Research Group on Childhood, Early Childhood Education, and Plural Contexts (Grão/UFCG/CNPq). The study was based on the theoretical frameworks of childhood, rural education, early childhood education, and early childhood education in/from the countryside, with a particular emphasis on discussions about rural children and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research adopts a basic methodological approach, with a qualitative approach and is a case study involving subjects from the fields of education, health, and social assistance. Data were collected through documentary research and individual semi-structured interviews. The results of the bibliographic research indicate that the pandemic has had a significant impact on rural children, and they also suffered more from inequalities in the period leading up to the crisis. This data aligns with the illustrations and analyses in the interviews, which show how the health crisis directly affected children, not only through infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, but also through its consequences, especially in the educational sphere. The data collected through documentary research show that rural children were left out of the planning and some policy implementation actions, with no mention of comprehensive actions for them in the meetings recorded in the minutes of the CMAS, CMDCA, CME, and CMS. Thus, the data provided information about the needs of rural children and their families during the pandemic, highlighting the direct importance of social programs such as the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE). It also highlights the impossibility of considering policies for children in isolation, thus requiring dialogue between areas, especially health, education, and social assistance, with intersectoral actions that address their multiple needs, especially in times of crisis, prioritizing children in the process of planning and implementing social policies, especially those that comprise rural areas.