Impactos do Programa Bolsa Família na evasão escolar

Abstract

Since its creation in 2003, the Bolsa Família Program has played an essential role in poverty reduction and social inequality by providing direct income transfers to the beneficiaries, linked to conditionalities, such as a minimum level of school attendance. In this regard, the present study provided an econometric analysis based on the Bolsa Família Impact Evaluation II data through a logistic regression (logit) model. The goal is to clarify the specific effectiveness of the educational conditionalities of the program in reducing school dropout rates. Results indicate a negative relationship between receipt of the benefit and school dropout; meaning that the program helps to reduce economic pressures on families, with a corresponding decline in the incidence of dropout rates and thus provides a prospect for children and youth from beneficiary families to stay in school. The study results also indicate a problem in the access to data in Brazil which therefore affects the accuracy of the analysis and underlines the urgent need for further improvement in data availability. These findings reinforce the importance of social public policies as a lever of promoting educational inclusion, while reducing both social and opportunity inequalities