Education experts question interruption of New High School

The ordinance published by the Ministry of Education (MEC) this Wednesday (5) suspending the implementation of the New Secondary School for 60 days on the grounds of evaluation and restructuring of the program was quite celebrated by teachers unions and student movements that had been pressuring the government for repealing the reform.

Despite this, the measure delays, but does not revoke the reform of secondary education in the country. All states have already started the process to adapt the education networks to the new model, initiated from the Provisional Measure edited in the government of Michel Temer (MDB) which, in 2017, was approved by the National Congress.

According to the schedule now modified by the MEC ordinance, in 2022 the new model should be implemented in the 1st year of High School; in 2023 in the 2nd year; and in 2024, on the 3rd, with the Enem already adapted to the modified scenario of subjects and training itineraries. The government’s new determination also generates uncertainty regarding the format of the Enem.

For sources heard by People’s Gazette, the New High School model needs adjustments, but any measure that proposes to return to the old model is harmful to the country’s education. The suspension of the implementation schedule is seen with reservations, while some of the experts point out as positive that, despite several government members positively nodding to the idea of ​​repealing the reform, the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, has been in favor of maintaining the model.

Experts point out fears about setbacks in high school

Professor Adriano Naves de Brito, who has a PhD in Philosophy and former municipal secretary of Education in Porto Alegre, considers that the measure announced by the MEC after giving in to pressure from groups opposed to the reform represents a severe blow to the New Middle School.

“The government postponing this implementation for 60 days means killing the reform. The education departments prepared themselves last year to carry out the implementation at the beginning of this year. With the reform not needing to be implemented in the next 60 days, it will close the semester and there is no possibility of it being implemented in the second semester, with the school year already halfway through and heading towards the end”, says Brito.

For him, the MEC’s ​​decision serves the interests of the support bases of the Lula government and ignores the public interest in educational improvements. “The reform was conceived largely during the Dilma government, with hundreds of thousands of hours of discussions throughout Brazil. Conducting this process in this pamphleteering manner is disrespectful to the discussions held during the Dilma government, but also those carried out by Congress, in addition to the work done by the Education secretariats ”, he declares.

Brito also explains that, as this is a broad educational reform, the period given for its implementation has been reduced, which is one of the reasons for identifying problems in the model. The occurrence of a health crisis and the reduced focus given by the previous management of the MEC are also identified as aggravating the problems in the new High School to be solved. “The deadline given was very short, but you don’t correct an error causing an even bigger one. The measure creates chaos in the educational system that will once again open space for pressure groups that now see possibilities for success and will seek to establish advantages for themselves to the detriment of students”, he highlights.

Luiz Carlos Faria da Silva, master and doctor in Education, is another to question MEC’s ​​decision. For him, the government failed to yield to pressure from organized groups. “This reform, although it may have limitations, is an ongoing reform, which has been decided upon, approved and organized. Perhaps the best way for the government to deal with the issue would be to resist pressure and move forward with the reform, even if it was possible to discuss concrete ways of implementing it”, he says.

He highlights, however, signs given by Camilo Santana in favor of the New High School. “This indicates that the minister does not want to interrupt the reform. Sounds to me like he wants to take it further and make one or two adjustments,” he says.

Cláudia Costin, director of the Center for Educational Policies at FGV, does not see the measure as ideal, but believes that the temporary suspension announced by the MEC can be useful for the government to identify what worked and what did not during implementation in the states to that, at the end of the 60 days, the proposed improvements are incorporated and the reform is continued.

“We had high school for many years with 13 subjects squeezed into four hours a day, a ‘jabuticaba’ that we invented. If you take the best rated countries by Pisa [Programa Internacional de Avaliação de
Estudantes], we do poorly compared to them, because these countries have a minimum of seven hours of class per day and a maximum of eight subjects. In addition, students choose their areas of improvement”, he explains.

She highlights the importance of the government limiting itself to the analysis of possible limitations to be corrected without giving space to demands for the revocation of the model. “The important thing is that we don’t throw the child out with the bath water, revoking the whole model. That would mean going back to four hours a day with 13 subjects, a model in which the Ideb – index that measures the quality of education – was 3.5 on a scale of 0 to 10 in public high schools”, says Cláudia. “We don’t want to go back to having a low-quality secondary education, which only increased educational inequalities”.

Education secretaries are against the dehydration of the new model

This Wednesday, the National Council of Education Secretaries (Consed), which brings together the education departments of the states and the Federal District, spoke out in defense of the reform of Secondary Education. For the council, “it is not sensible to think about discarding all the technical and financial effort expended by the state networks over the last few years”.

Consed also declared that the option of revoking the reform is not an option, at any time, by state managers. “Improvements and adjustments, typical of any process, can and should be discussed, but revoking is not an option”.

Fenep says MEC’s ​​decision is a setback

In a note, the National Federation of Private Schools (Fenep) expressed opposition to any change in the implementation schedule of the new High School and said that the educational sector is experiencing “moments of agony and insecurity”. “The interruption of the ongoing process is a setback and will cause damage, which must be repaired by whoever causes it, to students – especially those who will take the National Secondary Education Examination (Enem) next year – and to educational institutions. , whatever their sponsors”.

A People’s Gazette, the president of Fenep, Bruno Eizerik, stated that political issues have entered the pedagogical field, which has been generating insecurity for students and teachers. “It is hoped that with the change of government no radical changes will be made in the educational field. Unfortunately, politics is negatively influencing education,” he points out.

Ex-Minister of Education says “radicalism of PT militancy” is winning

For the state deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), who held the position of Minister of Education at the time of the publication of the Provisional Measure that established the reform of Secondary Education, an eventual annulment of the reform, as defended by members of the Lula government, means “returning to a failed model”.

See the note released by the former minister on social media:

“The world advances with artificial intelligence, and the Lula Government looks to the past announcing the suspension of the implementation of the New Secondary School. It is irresponsible to want to dismantle a structuring policy focused on learning to return to a failed model.

The New Secondary School focuses on learning, keeping students in school and making young people a protagonist. PT’s radicalism wants to go back to the time when students did not learn, concluded with 3% of basic knowledge of mathematics, 30% in Portuguese and high evasion.

It is important to recognize that the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, has been willing. He understands the importance of advancing education. Unfortunately, the radicalism of PT militancy, which has no commitment to young people, is winning.

The New Secondary School needs technical and financial support and time to be fully implemented. Follow-up is necessary, with very concrete data and evidence so that, in the appropriate time, we can carry out technical evaluations without political and ideological manipulation”.

* Collaborated with Gabriele Bonat