TERRITÓRIOS, CIDADES E O DIREITO À EDUCAÇÃO: OS EQUIPAMENTOS URBANOS PÚBLICOS DE MUNICÍPIOS DA REGIÃO METROPOLITANA DE CURITIBA E AS DESIGUALDADES DE OFERTA EDUCACIONAL

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the characteristics of the educational provision in the city of Curitiba and in municipalities in the first ring of the metropolitan region of Curitiba; and its relationship with territorial inequalities based on the distribution of goods and services through urban facilities and contextual variables. The debates of Harvey (1980), Santos (1993), Ribeiro and Koslinski (2009), among others, allow us to understand the relationship between territory and social processes, demonstrating that the existing domain in society is materialized in space, providing distances, making access impossible, or requiring different levels of capabilities to enjoy social rights, which affects people's well-being. The concepts of inequality and social justice use debates by the authors: Atkinson (2015) who demonstrate the importance of the economic dimension together with social aspects. Sen (2001) emphasizes that the characteristics and circumstances that make individuals unequal go beyond their income, and therefore it is necessary that social justice be taken as the basis for State decisions, which seek to mitigate social inequalities by treating individuals equitably, that is, promoting access according to their different needs. It is understood that the implementation of public urban equipment demonstrates the perspective of justice that has been adopted by the State, considering that its decisions are permeated by disputes and influence access to social rights. For this purpose, administrative data is used collected individually from the twelve municipalities that comprise the first ring of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba throughout 2021 and 2022, which presents the offer of education, health, social assistance, culture, sport and leisure services for the population. 

In addition, data from the 2021 Basic Education Census (INEP) were used to observe the characteristics of the municipal and state schools that make up the research universe and to observe the distribution of this information across the physical space based on the Paraná Interativo online platform. From this, it can be seen that the presence of urban education facilities is greater than in other categories in the municipalities analyzed, indicating that schools can act by materializing public power in people's daily lives. In addition, the presence of many urban facilities close to the boundaries between cities is noted, reinforcing the importance of public policies aimed at implementing social rights being designed collaboratively between the public authorities. No direct relationship was observed between a greater number of urban facilities and the use of the school environment by the state and municipal schools that comprise the research scope, or even greater availability of school space in municipalities with a smaller number of urban facilities. Finally, an unequal distribution of urban facilities and selected variables was observed, indicating the existence of inequalities between and within municipalities.