In relation to United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), are being developed in Brazil many public policies on education and literacy. The results of these public policies indicate both noisy conquest of some advances as the worsening of many historical problems. Among these, we highlight the result of silencing of discussion around the concept of restricted and rudimentary literacy, on which, in line with neoliberal political model, are based educational policies and corresponding "systems assessment" of skills and competencies of reading and writing, which it is hoped that students learn and which are defining the role of the teacher as a mere "provider of strategies" for such learning. Based on this hypothesis, we present, in a tone of critical balance, reflections on the "Decade of Literacy" in order to contribute to the discussion of problems and perspectives for teaching reading and writing in Brazil.
Literacy; "Literacy decade"; Public policies; History of literacy