O direito fundamental à educação e as políticas públicas educacionais - acesso e permanência escolar no Município de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

This study analyzes the fundamental right to education through educational public policies, with a focus on school access and retention in the Municipality of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. It is based on the premise that the 1988 Federal Constitution elevated education to the status of a fundamental social right, granting it the nature of a subjective public right and imposing concrete duties upon the State, whose fulfillment depends on the coordinated action of the federative entities and the implementation of public policies. Initially, the study examines the right to education from the perspective of fundamental social rights and the doctrine of comprehensive protection of children and adolescents. It then analyzes public policies as instruments for the implementation of fundamental rights, understood as processes involving the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of governmental action. Based on this theoretical framework, the research focuses on the educational public policies developed in the Municipality of Juiz de Fora between 2021 and 2024, with particular attention to strategies aimed at expanding access to education and strengthening school retention. The research adopts a qualitative approach, grounded in bibliographic review and documentary analysis of legal norms, educational plans, institutional reports, and educational indicators. The findings reveal significant advances in the implementation of municipal educational policies, particularly regarding the expansion of early childhood education, the reduction of school dropout rates, the strengthening of active school search strategies, school feeding and transportation policies, and learning recovery initiatives. It is concluded that the effectiveness of the right to education depends on the articulation between the constitutional normative framework, public policies, and the institutional capacity of federative entities to respond to social and territorial demands. In the case analyzed, the educational policies developed by the Municipality of Juiz de Fora made a relevant contribution to expanding access to education and strengthening school retention, highlighting the importance of public policies as instruments for the realization of fundamental social rights.