Potentialities and limits of the child labour eradication program (PETI) in the sisal /Brazil territory

Abstract

Child work was considered to be a natural practice for a long time in Brazil, both as a part of the child socialization process and a way of preventing crime and idleness. During the last decades of the 20^th century, however, these ideas started to be controlled by a network in Brazil, through the Program for the Eradication of Child Work (PETI) - public policy proposed to combat child work by placing the children and teenagers in full-time school. Our goal is to analyze the social and family changes caused by this program, indicating its potentialities and limits. For that, program beneficiaries - parents, coordinators, teachers, tutors and students - were interviewed either through focus groups or questionnaires.

Key-words: Child work; Public policies; Sisal