Racial quotas it consists in the practice of reserving a portion of public education or work places for individuals from the same disadvantaged ethnic group.
Quotas were used by several countries to correct ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities. Likewise, they are part of affirmative policies that aim to provide opportunities for minorities who have historically suffered some harm during the formation of a state.
This action is also called “positive discrimination”. The expression unites two contradictory terms, as all discrimination harms the individual.
However, the term is used to describe when a certain racial, cultural, ethnic group is privileged, with quotas and mechanisms for social ascension with the aim of integrating it into society.
arguments
The approval of racial quotas provoked - and still provokes - an intense debate in Brazilian society. We have selected some of the arguments for and against this issue:
In favor
- The university course is one of those that most favors social ascension and the majority of students in Brazilian universities are white students.
- Brazil has a historic debt to the black population on account of slavery.
- It helps to promote ethnic diversity in professions that are traditionally occupied by whites.
- It sets an example so that other black and indigenous young people feel motivated to enter university.
- As racial quotas promote coexistence between various ethnic groups, this helps to reduce the racism.
Against
- Quotaholders steal the vacancy of those who were not covered by this system.
- Many do not feel responsible for what happened in the past.
- The quotas would give blacks more chances, as they do not need to study to pass the Vestibular.
- The quotas are against the meritocracy and favor racism rather than suppress it.
- The quota system will bring down the quality of higher education.
Read too:
- slavery in Brazil
- Indigenous Slavery in Colonial Brazil
Brazil
The quota system in Brazil emerged with the 1988 Constitution which contains a law that guaranteed a reservation of places for people with physical disabilities in private and public companies.
From then on, civil society began to demand that other marginalized groups in Brazil should have access to higher education through the quota system.
At the end of the 1990s, there was a mobilization to provide better conditions for people who were unable to enter university for economic reasons.
Thus, several popular entrance exams were created by churches, associations and civil entities, in order to help students from public schools to obtain approval.
One of the examples we can mention is "Educafro", directed by the Franciscan religious David Raimundo dos Santos. Created in 1990 in Baixada Fluminense (RJ), it aims to help young black or low-income people to enter higher education.
After intense debates, on December 28, 2000, the state of Rio de Janeiro approves the law that guarantees a quota of 45% for students from public schools in the state universities of Rio de January. It was the first state in the federation to do so.
UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro) was the pioneer in adopting this system. According to 2014 data provided by the University:
From 2003 to 2012, 8,759 students entered UERJ through the quota system. Of these, 4,146 are self-declared blacks, another 4,484 used the income criterion, while 129 were based on the percentage of people with disabilities, Indians.
Racial Quota System
In August 2012, the federal government sanctioned Law No. 12,711/2012, popularly known as Quota Law. This law provides that 50% of vacancies in federal higher education institutions are for students who attended high school in public schools.
The first to adopt the system was the University of Brasília (UNB), in 2004, and the other establishments would have until 2016 to create their criteria for quotas.
Federal law works as follows. Take, for example, a federal university that offers 32 places for the Social Communication course. Of these, 16 places will be reserved for quotas.
Within these 16 vacancies, 50% - that is, 8 vacancies - should be allocated to students whose gross family income is equal to or less than a minimum wage per capita. Also within this 50%, they are reserved for students who earn more than one minimum wage per capita.
The other 8 places must be reserved for people with physical disabilities, blacks and indigenous people (proportionate to the population of each state).
The chart below helps you understand these numbers:
With this mechanism, according to data released by the Ministry of Education (MEC), the number of blacks attending higher education jumped from 3% in 1997 to 19.8% in 2013.
The quota system is growing according to the MEC (Ministry of Education): in 2013, 50,937 vacancies were filled by blacks, and in 2014, the number rose to 60,731.
Also, in 2013 and 2014, the law was being enforced by 128 federal institutions. The greatest resistance to applying it came from the state of São Paulo, both at the state and federal levels.
After a series of protests from student bodies, the country's largest university had to adopt the quota system. Thus, in 2017, USP (University of São Paulo) announced the adoption of quotas in the institution's selection process.
read more:
- Social Inequality in Brazil
- Social inclusion
- Social exclusion
- Black Consciousness
- black movement
- Preconception
- Miscegenation
- Writing on Racism: how to make the best text?
