The development of basic education in Amapá from 1991 to 2003: from rhetoric to action^*

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the development of basic education in Amapá since its real inception as a state of the Federation – in 1991, when the first state governor-elect took office – until 2003, the last year foreseen for the Decennial Education Plan of the State. With almost a quarter of the population illiterate and a context of continuous population growth, one of the great demands at the beginning of the decade was for better indices in basic education. In this regard, it analyses the elaboration and implementation of the main proposals of the state public power for the development of basic education in the state, and measures the advances of these proposals. The research is quantitative and, methodologically, interacts with historical and statistical methods in order to rebuild a process and obtain historical generalizations, going directly to the primary sources, complementing with the statistical analysis of five educational indicators. The outcomes indicate that in Amapá, as in Brazil, in the 1990s, the official speech on eradicating illiteracy and providing good quality public education with democratic management was common. However, the progress achieved was insufficient and did not necessarily mean qualitative outcomes, given the high rates of school failure and dropout. The public power of Amapá planned and determined the direction of public basic education, however, the results do not derive from a democratically participatory process, nor did they significantly alter the status quo of the social structure of Amapá.

Education policies; Basic education; Development; Decennial education plan; Amapá