THE LIBERATING POWER OF EDUCATION IN OVERCOMING POVERTY: PATHS TOWARD SOCIAL AND CIVIC EMANCIPATION

Abstract

This article examines the liberating power of education in overcoming poverty, emphasizing its role as an instrument of individual emancipation and social transformation. Based on classical authors of critical pedagogy, such as Freire (1996), Saviani (2018), Bourdieu and Passeron (2014), and Arroyo (2011), the study follows a qualitative bibliographic approach supported by reliable theoretical and institutional sources. The analysis reveals that education, when understood as a social and political practice, transcends its instructional dimension and assumes an emancipatory character, fostering citizenship and confronting structural inequalities. The dialogue between theory and empirical reality, sustained by data from IBGE (2023), INEP (2024), UNESCO (2023), and UNDP (2023), shows that access to high-quality public education positively affects social mobility and human development. It is concluded that public schooling, as a space of resistance and hope, stands as the most consistent path toward building a democratic, critical, and humane society.