March 31, 2026
Brazil reached, in 2025, the mark of 66% of children literate by the end of the 2nd year of Elementary School, exceeding the target set for the year, which was 64%. The result, measured by the Literate Child Indicator (LCI) and released by Inep last week, represents an increase of 7 percentage points compared to 2024 and continues the positive trend of recent years. The performance shows that the effort of federal cooperation, with the Union, states, and municipalities acting in a coordinated manner, has produced concrete progress for students.
Maranhão stood out among the states that exceeded the target: 69% of children are literate by the end of the 2nd year, an increase of 9 percentage points since 2024, positioning it above the national average. As literacy is the first stage where children's learning is assessed on a large scale, the result measures not only the teaching and learning processes that occur at the beginning of Elementary School but also the investments in public policies that begin much earlier, in Early Childhood Education. In this sense, the National Commitment to Literate Children (CNCA) has, since its conception, included Early Childhood Education as a fundamental stage of the national effort to guarantee the right to literacy. The Learn: Inside and Outside School project, developed by Labedu in partnership with Seduc-MA since 2019, is part of this effort.
The relationship between the quality of Early Childhood Education and the learning of reading and writing in the literacy cycle is supported by consolidated evidence: language experiences in the first years of life are one of the most important foundations for the path to literacy. The more children are exposed to intentional reading, listening, and speaking practices from daycare and preschool, the stronger the conditions for them to learn to read and write in the following years. This requires teachers trained to understand language development in early childhood and to act with pedagogical intentionality in the daily lives of their classes.
"Maranhão's results in the LCI 2025 show us what happens when a continuous training policy is built with consistency, over time, and in a collaborative regime. It is not an isolated action, but a systematic investment in the qualification of teachers and pedagogical practices that reach children every day, from Early Childhood Education to Elementary School. It is this accumulation that translates into learning," says Nicole Paulet Piedra, executive director of Labedu.
Since 2019, the Learn: Inside and Outside School project has supported Early Childhood Education educators in understanding language development in early childhood and in strengthening reading, listening, and speaking practices in the daily lives of daycare centers and schools. Through a cascading training flow that covers all levels of the Maranhão collaboration regime, the project reached 217 municipalities, trained 22,000 teachers, and reached 290,000 children aged 0 to 5 years. In 2025, the cycle reached the autonomy phase: starting in 2026, Seduc-MA will fully assume the direction of the training policy, supported by the instruments, methodologies, and the network of qualified professionals throughout the entire process.
The progress is significant and deserves recognition. At the same time, 34% of Brazilian children still complete the 2nd year of Elementary School without being literate, which reinforces the importance of maintaining and expanding investment in ongoing policies. Every child can learn, and guaranteeing this right depends on continuous investment in teacher training and the quality of pedagogical practices that reach children every day, starting from Early Childhood Education.