Constitution of the United States of Brazil (1946)/Title 6/Chapter 2

Chapter II
Education and Culture

Art. 166—Education is the right of everyone, and shall be administered at home and in the school. It shall be inspired by the principles of liberty, and the ideals of human solidarity.

Art. 167—Teaching, in its different branches, shall be administered by the public powers and is open to private initiative, provided the laws which regulate it are duly respected.

Art. 168—Teaching legislation shall adopt the following principles:

I—primary schooling is obligatory and shall be given only in the national language;

II—the official primary schooling is free to all; the official schooling subsequent to the primary schooling, shall be free for whoever proves lack or insufficiency of means;

III—the industrial, commercial and agricultural establishments employing more than one hundred persons are obligated to maintain free primary teaching for their employees and their employees' children;

IV—industrial and commercial concerns are obligated to administer, in cooperation, teaching to minors in their employ in such form as the law may establish, having regard to the rights of the teachers;

V—religious instruction shall be a part of the teaching schedule of official schools, matriculation therein shall be optional, and shall be administered in accordance with the religious confession of the pupil, manifested by him, if he is capable, or by his legal representative or person responsible for him;

VI—for the filling of teaching positions, in official colleges, or in the free or official high schools a competition based on degrees and examinations shall be demanded. Professors admitted by competition of degrees and examinations shall be assured tenure for life;

VII—the liberty of professorship is guaranteed.

Art. 169—Annually, the Union shall apply not less than ten per cent, and the States, the Federal District, and the municipalities not less than twenty per cent of their revenue derived from taxes to the maintenance and development of teaching.

Art. 170—The Union shall organize the Federal teaching system, as well as that of each territory.

Sole Paragraph—Federal teaching system shall have a supplementary character, extending throughout the country within the strict limits of the local deficiency.

Art. 171—Each State, as well as the Federal District, shall organize its own teaching system.

Sole Paragraph—For the development of these teaching systems, the Union shall cooperate with pecuniary aid, which, with respect to the primary teaching, shall be derived out of the respective National Fund.

Art. 172—Each teaching system shall obligatorily have services of educational assistance to assure the needy pupils, conditions of scholastic efficiency.

Art. 173—The sciences, letters, and arts are free.

Art. 174—Support of culture is a duty of the State.

Sole Paragraph—The law shall promote the creation of research institutes, particularly in connection with establishment of higher education.

Art. 175—The works, momuments, and documents of historical and artistic value, as well as the natural monuments, landscapes and places endowed with peculiar beauty, are under the protection of the public power.