Racial equity indicators have advanced in Brazil over the past two years. That is what the Equidade 2026 Diagnostic, released this month by the Ministry of Education (MEC), shows. The report measured data related to the National Policy on Equity, Education for Ethnic-Racial Relations and Quilombola School Education (Pneerq), such as funding, professional training and teaching materials, protocols to combat racism, management, evaluation and monitoring.
According to the document, between 2024 and 2026, the percentage of school systems with specific areas to coordinate racial equity actions jumped from 15% to 42% among municipalities and reached 100% among state systems.
The Secretary of Continuing Education, Literacy for Youth and Adults, Diversity and Inclusion (Secadi) of the MEC, Zara Figueredo, says the progress shows a maturity in management regarding equity.
"This is fundamental for us to be able to reduce racial learning inequalities, ensuring planned and closely monitored action to expand educational opportunities for Black students. It is worth remembering that, between 2005 and 2023, the learning inequality between Black and white students only grew. We need to reverse this trend, and that goes through management practices and pedagogical practices transformed through the lens of equity," she says.
Racial declaration
School systems have also increased campaigns for racial declaration. The percentage of school systems with this type of initiative grew from 66% to 86% in municipal systems and from 63% to 93% in state systems.
The co-founder of the Center for the Study of Labor Relations and Inequalities (Ceert) and doctor in educational psychology, Cida Bento, explains that racial declaration is important so that school systems know the differences in performance, school dropout and abandonment between Black students and white students. But she says there is another element in racial declaration: identity. "When a person has to ask themselves: 'am I mixed-race, am I Black, am I white,' that is a moment of awareness that I think is very important," she says.
Training and combating racism
Another important factor for promoting anti-racist education is the training of teachers and education professionals. According to MEC data, the number of municipal systems that offered training, seminars, workshops and lectures on racial equity increased from 48% in 2024 to 69% in 2026.
Schools have also begun to more systematically adopt protocols for cases of racism and racial insult. The growth of this type of practice was from 59% to 93% in state education systems. In municipal systems, the growth was smaller: from 36% to 53% in two years.
Despite the advances, there are still many challenges to universalize Pneerq. One of them is advancing the management practices of school systems in relation to their schools, which includes professionals knowing and applying the policy's axes.
"A point of attention for the next cycle, for example, lies in considering knowledge about education for ethnic-racial relations in the selection processes for teachers and school principals, especially among municipalities. This will allow the sustained growth of the movement to promote racial equity," says Zara Figueiredo.
Pneerq
Since 2003, Law No. 10,639/2003 has required schools to teach, in elementary and secondary education, Afro-Brazilian history and culture and the history of Africa and African peoples. This includes the struggle of Black people in Brazil, Black Brazilian culture and Black people in the formation of the national society, and the contribution of Black people in the social, economic and political areas of Brazil.
The implementation of the law, however, only became a reality in schools 21 years later, with the creation, in 2024, of the National Policy on Equity, Education for Ethnic-Racial Relations and Quilombola School Education (Pneerq). Until that year, only 30% of the country's education departments had any program aimed at complying with the law.
Cida Bento recounts that when she began studying racial equality policies in schools, the situation was much more serious. That is why she celebrates the advances and says they help Brazilian democracy. "When the school signals to the Black student that it is caring for them, that they are part of it, that the school textbooks address their group, address Black history, that they have the same treatment and opportunity, I think that is such a democratic element, you know? That feeling of belonging, of identity, is the pillar of democracy."