Chamber approves changes to new secondary education after agreement with Lula government

The Chamber of Deputies approved, on Wednesday night (20), the bill that provides for changes in the reform of secondary education. Approval was only possible after an agreement between the rapporteur, deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), and the government on the workload. PL 5230/23, authored by the Executive Branch, was approved in a symbolic vote. The text goes to the Senate for analysis.

The deputies rejected all the highlights presented by the parties in an attempt to change parts of the proposal. Mendonça maintained the total workload foreseen in the secondary education reform, approved in 2017, with 3,000 hours in the three years (5 hours in each of the 200 annual school days), informed the Chamber Agency.

The project establishes a workload of 2,400 hours for basic general training (combined over three years) and 1,800 for technical training, in a staggered manner. The government supporters disagreed with the rapporteur on the workload for mandatory subjects, such as Portuguese and mathematics.

To complete the total load in the three years, students will have to choose an area to deepen their studies with the remaining 600 hours, choosing one of the following training itineraries: languages ​​and their technologies; mathematics and its technologies; natural sciences and their technologies; or applied human and social sciences.

In the initial report, Mendonça defended increasing the workload for basic training to 2,100 hours and 900 hours for electives, but the MEC wanted 2,400 hours. Current legislation provides that the time allocated to the common curricular base must not exceed 1,800 hours. The government won after negotiation.

The Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, followed the vote in the plenary and said that the dialogue guaranteed the return of 2,400 hours of basic general training. “We guarantee good basic general training, resuming the workload, and we also guarantee professional technical education, which is what we want to advance in Brazil”, stated the minister.

The government tried to make the provision of Spanish in schools mandatory, but the proposal was not accepted by the rapporteur. The approved project determines that the Enem must be reformulated taking into account changes in the secondary education reform by 2027.

For deputy Gilson Marques (Novo-SC), the proposal reduces the uniformity of Brazilian education, with the MEC stipulating subjects for all states. “Mendonça’s project is spectacular because it reduces the problem. For the student to determine what they want, this makes education grow,” he said.

Representative Tarcísio Motta (Psol-RJ) said that there were victories in relation to the 2017 law, such as the 2,400 hours in basic general training, but warned that technical education with a workload of 1,800 hours is precarious. “We will have two secondary schools, one for general training, which could be comprehensive; and another for technical training, which is precarious, because it will be for the poor,” said Motta.