THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN CITIZEN FORMATION AND IN THE REDUCTION OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES

Abstract

This article aimed to analyze the role of education in citizen formation and in the reduction of social inequalities in Brazil, considering school as a social right, a cultural practice and a strategic public policy. The methodology was bibliographic and documentary, with a qualitative approach and support from secondary quantitative indicators extracted from the 2024 Continuous National Household Sample Survey on Education, the 2024 School Census of Basic Education and a UNICEF survey on age-grade distortion. The results showed progress in reducing illiteracy, increasing average years of schooling and almost universalizing access to elementary education, but they also revealed persistent inequalities associated with race, income, territory, school permanence and completion of basic education. It is concluded that education contributes to citizenship and social justice when it combines access, learning, recognition of differences, democratic participation, teacher appreciation, adequate funding and intersectoral policies capable of transforming formal rights into concrete experiences of belonging, emancipation and social participation (FREIRE, 1996; SEN, 1999; IBGE, 2025a; INEP, 2025).