Influência do Programa de Bolsa Família no desempenho dos estudantes do ensino médio na rede públicada Paraíba (2018-2023)

Abstract

Over the years, Brazil has invested in social development, adopting policies to combat poverty with the aim of building human capital and reducing inequalities, including inequality in access to higher education. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the performance of high school students in the public school system of Paraíba and the Bolsa Família Program, using data from 2018 to 2023. A model was estimated using the fixed-effects (FE) ordinary least squares regression method, which analyzes the impact of variables that change over time. The results show a positive relationship between Bolsa Família beneficiaries and high school student performance; however, there is no significance. This result may have been compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted student performance, as evidenced by results from other assessments, such as the SAEB. In contrast, a similar study conducted Silva, Ferreira e Lucas (2020) on data from the state of Pernambuco between 2009 and 2016 showed a positive relationship, with 1% significance across the four variables studied. This means that the evidence that Bolsa Família would have a direct and positive impact on students in Pernambuco is stronger than on students in Paraíba. Although this research is inconclusive due to the need for further investigation, it can serve as a starting point for future research to continue the study or discuss the limitations of the analysis undertaken here, thus contributing to a better understanding of the proposed topic.