Postado em: 25 June, 2026
Law 10,639: Achievements and Challenges in the Implementation of Antiracist Education in Brazil
Despite the advances, Law 10,639 still faces on-the-ground challenges in the Brazilian education system.
January 2026 marks 23 years since the implementation of Law 10,639, which was established to include the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in the school curriculum. The legislation represents a milestone in the struggle for antiracist education. However, two decades later, it is impossible to affirm that its implementation has been effective in public and private schools in Brazil.
“This law is the fruit of social movements, especially the black movement, intellectual experts, and the people who work with the issue. Above all, it is a demand from the people”, comments Ana Paula Brandão, Manager of the SETA Project and Program Director of ActionAid. “Throughout these last 23 years, there have been times when the law still needed to be implemented in certain school systems, but it would be a lie on our part to say that nothing has happened.”
For Ana Paula, over these two decades, several measures were implemented to ensure the law’s success. “Many Secretariats of Education have been successfully implementing the requirements mandated by Laws 10,639 and 11,645 of the National Education Guidelines and Bases Act. Therefore, I believe that this is a moment to celebrate an achievement that is very important for the Brazilian population. However, it is also important to remember that the implementation of the law takes place with continuous training programs, through public investments – especially in teacher training, school management, and the development of methodologies. Thus, this movement doesn’t happen on its own. It is not only the Secretary of Education’s responsibility, nor the schools’. It is the responsibility of the Brazilian population. We, as specialists and educators, have the responsibility of putting pressure on the management to implement the law and support it so that it truly does get implemented”, the Manager of SETA highlights.
The city of Rio de Janeiro prepares educators to discuss antiracist education
Through the Management of Ethnic-Racial Relations (GERER), the Municipal Secretariat of Education of Rio de Janeiro is offering the Território Educador (Educator Territory) course. These training programs for local educators are geared toward promoting racial equity in education, providing tools to build pedagogical practices aligned with racial equity, and recognizing the Carioca Curriculum as an instrument to combat racism and promote inclusion.
The Educator Territory Program, a partnership with the SETA Project, is structured into ten modules and addresses, with the aid of videos and complementary study material, topics such as: “the institutional encouragement for the implementation of actions in daily school routines”, “ basic concepts for addressing ethnic-racial relations: race and racisms, ideology, representativeness, identity, cultural diversity, and literacy”, and “the impacts of racism on the Black and Indigenous populations”. The program’s first two classes, in 2024 and 2025, trained around 1,300 professionals from the municipality of Rio de Janeiro and directly benefited more than 50,000 students in the school system.
A school in Cordovil wants to be a model for teaching antiracist education
The Ambassador Barrros Hurtado Municipal School, located in Cordovil, a neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, does excellent work regarding the implementation of Law 10,639/2003. With a little over 300 students, segmented between the sixth and ninth grades in elementary school, the entity has a plan to be a model institution for teaching antiracist education.
According to Mõncia Aniceto, a Portuguese teacher at the school, “antiracist education requires creating pedagogies that dismantle different forms of discrimination, designed to educate students on ethnic-racial relations. In addition, the goal is for Black people to be proud of their ancestry, intellectual wisdom, and struggles.” Ancieto notes, “From another perspective, it allows White people to understand the participation and the importance of Black people’s history and culture and their distinct ways of being, living, and building relationships, particularly those of Black women. We must urgently include these core civilizing values in school curricula and combat the myth that we are all equal.”
Lins de Vasconcelos School, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, participates in antiracist training.
Cristine Santos da Fonseca, a pedagogical coordinator at GET (Technological Experimental Gym) Lins de Vasconcelos, in Rio’s North Zone, was one of the professionals who participated in the Educator Territory training program. Drawing on her 24 years of experience in public education, she noted that the training course deepened her knowledge of vital classroom themes in alignment with Laws 10,639 and 11,645. For Cristine, tackling antiracist education is essential for several reasons, including fostering self-esteem, cultivating a sense of belonging, and ensuring that students feel valued within the school environment.
“I believe that we are at the beginning of a long journey; it is necessary for us to effectively implement antiracist education in the public school system, ” emphasizes the coordinator. “Consequently, I believe that the training offered by the Educator Territory Program must be ongoing, as it equips the entire school system to address these topics in the classroom.”
The school, which serves over 450 students from early childhood education to the fifth grade, features an initiative called “Brazilian Africanity”. Through storytelling, fashion shows with customized clothing, and exhibitions of student work, the project honors Afro-Brazilian culture.
