Although there is a wide variety of concepts about the meaning of “social responsibility”, this concept is usually related to sustainable development, socio-environmental responsibility and sustainability.

In a non-exclusive way, for very current researchers, the concept converges to understand sustainability as economic integrity, social equity and environmental integrity (OMETTO, 2018).

In another description:

Social responsibility can be defined as the commitment that an organization must have with society, expressed through acts and attitudes that positively affect it, in a broad way, or to a community, in a specific way (...). Thus, in an expanded view, social responsibility is any action that can contribute to improving society's quality of life (Ashley, 2004, p. 06-07).

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Although it cannot exclude economic and environmental aspects, Distance Education is an important means for social equity and for improving the quality of life, including in stages of life, where education is often neglected due to lack of access, as in the case of the elderly.

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According to the publication of the Ministry of Education RIGHT TO EDUCATION - Subsidies for the Management of Educational Systems (BRASIL, 2006):

We live in a democratic society that has, by definition, plurality, coexistence and dialogue in diversity. The right to participate in common spaces and processes of teaching and learning carried out by the school is provided for in the legislation, and educational policies must be compatible with these assumptions that guide full access and conditions of equity in the education system.

The Constitution of the Republic, when it adopts as a principle the "equality of conditions for access and permanence in school", understood as the realization of the republican objective of "promoting the good of all, without prejudice of origin, race, sex, color, age and any other forms of discrimination", provides for a society with schools open to all, at any stage or  modality, as well as access to higher levels of education.

Recent data released by the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira - Inep/MEC clearly indicate the reach and importance that distance education can have in achieving the objective of equal opportunities.

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The graphs below, taken from these data (BRASIL - INEP, 2018), present an overview based on information collected from the socio-economic questionnaire of the Student Participating in ENADE.