Camilo Santana says that 72% of the population trusts teachers more than the military in schools.

Cristiane Sampaio, Brazil of Fact - After being invited by the Education Committee of the Chamber of Deputies to speak about the government's policy regarding civic-military schools and other topics, the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, said, this Wednesday (12), that the majority of the population does not have a preference for this type of policy. He was questioned by Bolsonaro's parliamentarians regarding the extinction, at the beginning of the year, of the directorate created by the previous administration to command the program for expanding school units that operate according to this model.

Santana mentioned research commissioned by the civil organizations Ação Educativa and Centro de Referências em Educação Integral (Cenpec), according to which 72% of Brazilians trust teachers more than the military to work in schools. The minister also highlighted that the program has had little participation from local public administrators, which is why only 0,28% of the 138 schools in the country currently adopt the civic-military method. In the minister's assessment, the numbers reinforce the view that there is a lack of interest from the educational network in this type of proposal.

“It was a unilateral decision by the Ministry of Education at the time. The Law of Guidelines and Bases [of National Education] and the National Education Plan make no mention of including the Armed Forces in the country's basic education,” he stated. He emphasized that, because of this, the policy is also subject to questioning due to a lack of regulatory provisions.

Brazilian congressman Capitão Alden PL-BA, a supporter of Bolsonaro, cited alleged statistics indicating good performance of such schools in the country. “In my state of Bahia, the ten best public schools are all civic-military. So, we need to broaden this discussion. We have to evaluate the index of how this assessment is done, otherwise everything is wrong,” he suggested, also asking Santana to visit these schools “before shutting them down.”

“I did not revoke the program. It just won't be a priority or a strategy of the Ministry of Education in this government to create new schools,” the minister defended himself at one point when he touched on the subject, also highlighting that the ministry will discuss the topic “in a broad and democratic way” with the mayors and governors who have already implemented the model in some units, which total 202 schools across the country.

Santana also said that opponents were confusing these units with the military schools that exist throughout the country, which are under the jurisdiction of the states. He added that the states are free to create their own civic-military schools if they so wish.

Santana also answered questions on the topic of attacks on schools, for example. He highlighted that the problem is complex and reflects the contemporary reality of Brazilian society "of encouragement of hatred," which results in such cases. The minister advocated for expanding intelligence work on social media so that the State can anticipate possible threats and prevent new tragedies in the school environment.

“We need to strengthen a large psychosocial program in Brazilian schools. It’s an issue that involves education and intelligence. It’s a problem of social media, which we need to control. We need to regulate and punish those who commit crimes on social media,” he added.

High school

The new high school curriculum, approved during the Temer administration and maintained under Bolsonaro's government, is the only point where the administration seems to have encountered more thorny ground among parliamentarians. Deputies from the progressive camp advocate for the repeal of the high school reform, but the issue lacks unanimity within the government's base, which also includes parliamentarians from outside the left, the segment that supported the reform during the Temer era. Despite this, the Ministry of Education is dealing with a popular chorus in favor of its repeal.

Recently, the government suspended the implementation schedule for the reform and opened a public consultation that should last 60 days. According to the administration, the idea is to broaden the dialogue with different segments linked to education to discuss the reform. This Wednesday, in the committee, Santana reaffirmed his support for the suspension and said that "high school education cannot be changed by decree or by law."

He pointed out that the suspension is also related to what he called "distortions" that have been observed in the National High School Exam (Enem). He also said that the government considered the analysis done by the transition team at the end of the year, which advocated for the rejection of the reform.  

“In the final report I received, one of the demands was the revocation of the decree. I asked my team to evaluate it, and I don't get into ideological issues. I am part of a government that is democratic,” said the minister, emphasizing that he will continue the dialogue with different sectors in the field of education.

Scenario  

In the committee, the minister faced more than five hours of debate in which he managed to dominate the political game that unfolded in his presence. The highly competitive committee received registrations from 57 parliamentarians who requested to question the minister, since speaking is also open to non-members of the committee.

The committee has about 15 government-aligned deputies among its total of 40 full members, but on Wednesday there was a predominance of speeches that signaled support for the Ministry of Education, which indicates greater coordination within the Planalto's allied base in an attempt to shield the minister and reduce the impact of opposition criticism during the hours of debate.

But that wasn't all that mattered in the scenario. Camilo's technical preparation and already known temperament, generally less inclined to polarizing speeches than most PT members, also helped to avoid an escalation of tensions. Because of this, unlike what happened with Flávio Dino on Tuesday (11) in the Public Security Committee, where the terrain seemed more arid to the government due to the noisy presence of parliamentarians from the pro-gun lobby, Santana's hearing was marked by a lukewarm political climate and more controllable on the part of the government. This was also the prevailing understanding among deputies who attended the session.

“I want to note that, during my time here, in general, despite some provocation from opposition parliamentarians, things remained at a reasonable level, a level of respect,” emphasized Congressman Patrus Ananias (PT-MG), in a conversation with Brasil de Fato. Because of this climate, the Bolsonaro wing was unable to dominate the debate and steer the discussions in the direction of their criticisms.

 “Camilo is serene and calm. He always strikes me as a man of dialogue, who listens and is balanced. Of course, this helped a lot in having this meeting here,” added Ananias. “Notice that even the opposition, who are questioning, which is natural and healthy, are not exacerbating the debate to the point of disrupting the meeting. They are behaving within certain limits, despite their limitations,” commented Congressman Chico Alencar (PSOL-RJ) at a certain point in the debate, behind the scenes.

“We’re already approaching five hours of this hearing, and those who questioned him were speaking in a nervous tone, saying that the minister is a communist, that the government is communist—I mean, empty things. I’m impressed by the superficiality of those who questioned the minister. And they know it, they realize it, so much so that they are leaving the plenary session,” Alencar adds. The comment refers to the fact that several opposition members criticized the minister and left the plenary session before he answered their questions.

"Despite all this, I at least leave here today with the feeling that Brazil now has a Minister and a Ministry of Education again, has a team, because we lived through four years of hearings, of succession of ministers, and now that's not the case," concludes Chico Alencar.