The early childhood education offer in the private sector: a right or a business

Abstract

This article analyzes the repercussions of the early childhood education offer in the private sector since the onset of the mandatory preschool in the city of Caxias do Sul, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, considering the implications of redefining the public and the private sectors. This research uses a qualitative approach on education, where 19 comprehensive interviews were conducted, which are considered at the same time a method and a technique. It also involves a documentary research. The discussion and the data analysis permitted developing a characterization of the early childhood education in the city studied, evidencing the constitution of a business network propelled by the acquisition of vacancies in the private sector and by the judicialization of this educational stage. Thus, the right to education – understood as the access to quality education for all in State institutions that provide care and education to children without considering them as a business – may be in danger, indicating a trend to privatization. It is concluded that the public character of education is decreasing as city policies are aligned to privatizing processes in a market rationale that transforms the citizen into a client. We emphasize that the right to education must be based on laicity, gratuity and quality, accessible for all as constitutionally foreseen. Not only the access must be guaranteed, but the equal access for all.