FINANCIAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS IN IMPERATRIZ, MARANHÃO: AN ANALYSIS FROM ECONOMIC AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Financial education comprises knowledge and skills related to the use of resources, planning, credit and consumption decisions and, in Brazil, has become part of the legal system and of educational policies, especially after Law No. 14,181/2021, which included it among consumers' basic rights. This article aims to analyze the economic, educational and legal foundations of financial education in public secondary education and the conditions that influence its implementation as an educational policy, using Imperatriz, Maranhão, as its territorial focus. This is a qualitative, descriptive and analytical study, of bibliographic and documentary nature, based on scientific literature, legislation, official documents and national indicators released by AEF-Brasil, Serasa, CNDL/SPC Brasil and the Ministry of Education. The results indicate that the subject has constitutional, legal and curricular grounds, being addressed as a contemporary cross-cutting theme rather than as an autonomous curricular component, and that national policies such as the National Financial Education Strategy and the Na Ponta do Lápis Program have expanded the institutional reach of the proposal. The indicators show an expansion of initiatives and the presence of young people among consumers with restricted credit records and among those who renegotiated debts, but they do not allow establishing a causal relationship between financial education and delinquency, nor diagnosing the reality of schools in Imperatriz. It is concluded that institutional reach, implementation and pedagogical effectiveness are distinct dimensions; that effectiveness depends on planning by education networks, teacher training and indicators of execution and learning; and that local assessment requires documents from education networks and field research.