Information and Communication Technology in Brazilian Public Schools: A Sustainable Legacy of the Pandemic?

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to analyze the sustainability of the post-COVID-19 pandemic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) legacy. The survey was conducted using raw secondary data from three census studies, one carried out before the pandemic and two after the return to in-person classes. The descriptive survey focused on Brazilian public schools and used a comparative intersectional design. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the raw data. The poorest conditions in terms of the availability of technological resources were found in municipal public school systems. The amount of equipment available, bandwidth, and Internet data transmission rate in most public schools were far below desirable, despite advances in 2021 compared to 2019. Although there have been important improvements in ICT in Brazilian public schools, there was no evidence of inherited ICT resources as a legacy of the Government's COVID-19 policies related to education. The study highlights the need for government to implement enduring public policies that guarantee the use of sustainable ICT resources to improve education, irrespective of global or national health challenges.