Barred by Lula, civic-military schools are a rare case of success

Parents of students, teachers and directors of civic-military schools across Brazil regretted the news, released this Wednesday (12), that the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intends to close the National Program of Civic-Military Schools (Pecim), created by the Ministry of Education (MEC) during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The feeling of disappointment was unanimous among those consulted by the report of the People’s Gazette in schools in the states of Minas Gerais, Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul. The civic-military partnership is evaluated, by those who see it up close, as an indisputable case of success – something rare in the field of public education policies in Brazil.

Civil directors of schools that are part of Pecim state that the partnership with the military has brought significant benefits from the point of view of academic, disciplinary, psychological performance and the involvement of families and communities in the school environment. A manager who preferred not to be identified guarantees that the partnership with the military even helped to remove drug trafficking from his school.

With the change, according to the directors, the search for enrollment in the institutions increased considerably.

Roseli Nery de Andrade Bento, director of the José de Souza Damy Municipal School, in Corumbá (MS), says that the professionals who work at the school and the students’ parents were “shocked and very saddened by the federal government’s decision”. The institution has been part of Pecim since 2020.

With the presence of the military, according to her, student performance improved remarkably, and the most serious disciplinary problems practically disappeared. “There is no more violence, there are no more fights here at school, we don’t have school dropouts.

In addition, according to her, “there was a great deal of support from the community”. “All parents supported. The civic-military school brought to our community the importance of working on values, the spirit of leadership, of organization”, she says.

Previously violent schools have become attractive for students and teachers

General director of Colégio Estadual Cívico-Militar Beatriz Faria Ansay, in Curitiba, Sandro Francisco Mira Junior says that, for a long time, the institution was considered one of the worst in the capital of Paraná, and that this changed after the partnership with the military, which started in 2019.

“In this short period of time, we noticed significant changes, both in terms of learning and the attitude of the students. It is a school that did not reach the Ideb target. [Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica] neither in elementary nor in high school, and we achieved this in 2021. We also suffered a lot with the issue of violence, both physical violence and the issue of depredation of the school, and nowadays these violence rates are practically zero. We only have good news about the program and we are very sorry for this decision by the federal government”, he comments.

The change, according to him, is reflected in the number of parents interested in enrolling their children. “We had a school that worked in three shifts and it had about 640, 650 enrollments. Today, we have a school that works in two shifts, we have around 1,450 students enrolled, and more than 500 students in the waiting list”, reports.

The commercial representative Wallace Silva, who is a student’s father and serves on the parents’ committee at the Padre José Maria de Man State Civic-Military School, in Contagem (MG), reports that community involvement increased considerably with the presence of the military.

The college, according to him, even occupied the pages of local newspapers due to the excess of violence. There were cases, for example, of students dropping bombs inside the school.

The partnership with the military put an end to such cases. With the change, the institution went from 412 students to 897, and the demand for enrollment almost tripled. The interest of professors in joining the college’s teaching staff also increased, since the human formation in values ​​and the improvement in the disciplinary aspect facilitated the pedagogical process.

In addition, as part of Pecim, high school students have been trained for the job market: around 300 students from Padre José Maria de Man have already participated in programs for young apprentices in companies in the region.

Idea of ​​”militarization” of the school is prejudiced, say directors

The teachers’ reports are confirmed by the figures presented by the MEC at the end of 2022: according to the agency, the schools served by Pecim had an 82% reduction in cases of physical violence, a 75% decrease in reports of verbal violence, and a 82% reduction in cases of depredation of school property. In addition, truancy and school dropout decreased by almost 80%.

The managers consulted by People’s Gazette they immediately reject the idea that the improvement in the disciplinary aspect is due to an excess of rigidity or to a process of “militarization” of schools. They ensure that the civilian character of the school remains evident, even though some military personnel are part of the schools’ day-to-day activities.

“The military listens to the students. They don’t bring a rigidity in their attitude. They are serious people, but it’s not that question of keeping an eye on whether the student squeaked or not. That’s not what works. They work with values ​​such as respect, responsibility, organization, but not for the student to blindly obey. Not at all. Here, students have freedom and are led to questioning, they are awakened to this”, says Roseli Nery.

According to Meira Junior, “the relationship we have between students and military monitors is a friendship relationship”. “You see the monitors advising the students, seeking the best for the students, and the reciprocal also happens. At the end of last year, a monitor [militar] he had to leave school, his contract was not renewed, and the students prepared a tribute that brought everyone to tears. This friendship relationship that was built is what makes the program successful”, he guarantees.

One secret of the program’s success, according to the director, is the participation of military monitors in coordinating free extracurricular activities – the college now has, for example, a chess club, a musical band and jiu-jitsu and taekwondo classes. “Today we have six activities that are voluntary within the school, three of which are conducted by military personnel. They come on Saturdays on a voluntary basis to work with the students”, he reports.