SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE NORTHERN PIEDMONT OF ITAPICURU: A PORTRAIT OF THE MATERIAL CONDITIONS OF RURAL AND URBAN SCHOOLS

Abstract

School infrastructure is a dimension of the material conditions for the realization of the right to education. This article focuses on rural and urban schools that offer the final years of Elementary Education in the Piemonte Norte Identity Territory of Itapicuru, Bahia, and aims to analyze their infrastructure conditions based on data from the 2025 School Census. The research has a qualitative approach, of a documentary and descriptive nature, supported by quantitative data and guided by historical-dialectical materialism. A total of 89 schools were analyzed, 58 rural and 31 urban, considering four components: computer lab, science lab, library/reading room and sports court. The results reveal a heterogeneous distribution of these components and do not demonstrate generalized inferiority of rural schools in relation to urban schools. The situation of the Science laboratories stands out, present in only four units, configuring a shortage that crosses practically the entire territory. It is concluded that infrastructure inequalities assume specific territorial configurations and cannot be understood exclusively by the rural-urban opposition. The mapping is also a reference of the existing conditions in 2025, prior to Law No. 15,360/2026, and may support further analyses on its implementation.