Sobral (CE) is the city with the best educational quality in the country

Despite the vain philosophy of some, it is not in the wonderful South that an example of educational excellence can be found, but in the rural northeastern Ceará, where two of its cities have left behind well-off socioeconomic level locations. higher.

According to the 2023 Municipalities Competitiveness Ranking – carried out by the Political Leadership Center (CLP), in partnership with Gove and Seall consultancies, covering 410 cities in all Brazilian regions – Sobral is the national champion in terms of access and quality of education, while neighboring Iguatu holds the fourth placing. After her, the closest Northeastern cities are Maracanaú (CE) and Teresina (PI). In general, the best rankings belong to locations in the Southeast region.

For the president of the National Union of Municipal Education Directors (Undime), Alessio Costa Lima — coincidence or not, secretary of Education of the also cearense Ibaretama (CE) — the disparity in the classification of cities, by region, is related to the physical structure and investment capacity of the counties.

“These data show two things: that municipalities in the South and Southeast regions, due to a more favorable context and a more structured local government condition and with more capacity for development, it is easy for them to grow in terms of indicators, both access and quality of education”, he assesses. Alessio.

Early childhood education coverage – About the result of the ranking, the president of Undime points out that, “in the Northeast, you realize that, despite the detriment of the economic condition of the entities federated, there is a great offer in the percentage of coverage, for example, of early childhood education", adding that "northeastern cities tend to have positive indicators in relation to attendance, which are above several goals of the National Education Plan (PNE) of the Ministry of Education. Education".

When commenting on the item 'quality of education', Alessio observes that the only way to improve the indicator is with the development of consistent, systematized and long-term public policies. “No one improves the quality of education overnight. It is much more difficult for you to improve quality indicators than access indicators, because access indicators can only be improved with investment. As for quality, you presuppose investment, management and a political-educational project”, he explains.

In the case of Sobral, the highest indicators are for the quality of primary education, measured by the Basic Education Development Index (Ideb). For the municipality's Secretary of Education, Hebert Lima, the exceptional result is a reflection of a reform education started in the city many years ago, which even changed the fundamental axes of administration local municipality.

strengthened management – “We also implemented a reform to strengthen city management, where there is no political indication for technical positions in the area of ​​public education. Sobral also created, more than 20 years ago, a policy for training and training teachers”, reports Hebert, to the complete that “we rescued the craft of teaching, from the moment we qualify the teacher”, evaluates Herbert.

Another 'secret' to Sobral's above-average performance was the institution, by the municipality, of bonus and award laws for education professionals, based on the level of development of their students, whose performance is monitored monthly by the City Hall local.

Although it took the top spot in terms of quality of education, Sobral ranked 171st in terms of access to education, due to the low enrollment rate in secondary education. According to Alessio, the data shows only a matter of choice made by the city. “The municipality can have quality [in education] and still not have chosen to prioritize the provision of education in various stages of basic education. This does not detract from the quality of education in this municipality. We need to understand that, in the case of these two indicators, one does not cancel the other”, explained Alessio.

The secretary of Sobral recalls that the state government is responsible for secondary education in the city, which helps to explain the low investment in this level of education. “We are implementing a comprehensive education policy, with the state and federal governments. It was a partnership installed at the end of last year, from kindergarten to high school, 100% full time”, he ponders.

At the moment, 20 works are under way for full-time schools in the city, not to mention others in 26 elementary and 13 secondary education institutions, which operate in the integral modality within the County.

Focus on basic education – Another ‘low’ score from Sobral, however, is related to the item ‘innovation and economic dynamism’, which corresponds to investments in scientific research. In Hebert's view, this area is fundamental for the development of education in the country, but that investments are not high in the municipality because the focus is on basic education.

“Sobral is implementing teaching projects and is building a base that, in the coming years, will become consolidate in a high volume of students who left high school and are going to enter higher education”, says the secretary.

Alessio completes the evaluation, stating that the responsibility for investing in science, especially in higher education, lies with the Union — that is, linked to the federal government. “So it will not necessarily be with municipal resources, its own initiative and investment in local science that the city will be able to impact the results on its own”, he concludes.