SCHOOL DROPOUT AND RETENTION AT EVARALDO VASCONCELOS JR. STATE SCHOOL (AP): SOCIOECONOMIC, INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES AND POLICY RESPONSES IN THE AMAZON CONTEXT

Abstract

School dropout remains one of the main challenges faced by Brazilian basic education, especially in peripheral regions and territories marked by historical inequalities, such as the state of Amapá and the wider Amazon context, where Evaraldo Vasconcelos Jr. State School is located and where the daily life of the institution reveals the tensions between the formal right to education and the concrete conditions required for students to remain and succeed in school. This article develops a theoretical and bibliographical discussion of the concepts of dropout and school retention, analyses socioeconomic, institutional and organizational factors associated with leaving school, describes public policies and programs designed to address the problem and systematizes previous studies on dropout in the Amazon region, taking the school under focus as an empirical reference for reflecting on such policies and practices at the local level. The text seeks to connect classical frameworks on the reproduction of social inequalities, recent empirical evidence and analyses grounded in the North of Brazil, with the purpose of supporting strategies to prevent dropout and strengthen meaningful school retention in dialogue with school management, teachers, families and students themselves. It argues that only integrated actions that combine social protection policies, better pedagogical working conditions and more dialogical and inclusive school practices can produce lasting effects on dropout indicators in public schools located in vulnerable territories, such as Evaraldo Vasconcelos Jr. State School and other institutions belonging to the state network of Amapá.