In 2020, a year marked by the novel coronavirus, quarantine and interruption of face-to-face classes, 8.4% of students aged 6 to 34 years enrolled before the pandemic reported that they had dropped out of school.
The percentage represents about 4 million students, a number higher than that of the population of Uruguay.
Financial issues and lack of access to remote classes are among the main reasons for dropping out. They are also the biggest barriers among the impoverished. The information comes from the Datafolha Institute, at the request of C6 Bank.
Those enrolled in higher education registered the worst dropout rate—16.3%.
In basic education, 10.8% of high school students reported having left school, and the percentage was 4.6% for the elementary level.
The rates are much higher than the official dropout rates recorded in basic education in Brazil, which, in turn, are already high. In 2019, the year of the last official data available, the average index in primary education was 1.2% and, in secondary education, 4.8%.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon