Assistência estudantil no contexto da Pandemia da Covid-19: uma análise a partir da oferta do auxílio instrumental para os estudantes de origem popular da UFRN (2020-2021)

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze the implementation and effectiveness of instrumental assistance at UFRN as part of the development of Student Assistance at the institution in the context of the National Student Assistance Program (PNAES) and the scenario of the COVID19 pandemic. To this end, we sought to outline the profile of humble origin backgrounds assisted by instrumental assistance; characterize the main social needs for their permanence during the health crisis; and, identify the contribution of said aid in the academic trajectory of these beneficiary students. Thus, the construction of this research was based on the historicaldialectical materialist method proposed by Marx, based on the understanding that through it it is possible to unveil the phenomena in their essence, their contradictions and dynamism. It uses a quantitative and qualitative approach based on bibliographic research and document analysis and seeks to apprehend the object in its universal and particular dimensions. The study reveals that the dismantling of public education, especially of federal universities, combined with the health crisis of the new coronavirus aggravated the challenges of public higher education to minimally make operating conditions viable, reverberating in student assistance and consequently in students of humble origin and in the satisfaction of their social needs in this context. Therefore, understanding the university in the present time and the constant attacks it suffers, as well as strengthening student assistance in this context, is an essential aspect to guarantee the permanence of students of humble origin.