Government revokes civic-military school program – 07/21/2023 – Education

The Lula government (PT) published a decree, this Friday (21), revoking the federal program to promote civic-military schools, a flag of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The text was published in the Official Gazette of the Union. He also foresees that the Ministry of Education, within 30 days, will present a transition plan for the closure of these schools, in agreement with the state and municipalities.

The government’s intention had already been announced about ten days ago. Shortly afterwards, the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), announced the creation of a state program of civic-military schools. He did not detail how the action will be and how many units should receive it.

The governors of Paraná, Ratinho Junior (PSD), and of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB) had already announced that they would maintain the programs. The three supported Bolsonaro in last year’s election, and both Tarcísio and Ratinho had their names speculated as possible candidates for the Planalto in 2026.

There are no plans to close the units. What will happen is the end of this federally supported model. Teaching networks in the states can maintain the format with their own resources, if they so wish — exactly what São Paulo, Paraná and the Federal District have announced they will do.

The MEC (Ministry of Education) sent a letter to the education secretariats for them to start transitioning from this model and remove military personnel from schools.

The MEC document, distributed since Monday (10), says that the “progressive closure of the program” was decided after evaluating the measure. The idea is for the program to end at the end of the school year, with the withdrawal of Armed Forces personnel working in schools.

The Ministry of Defense also agreed with the MEC’s ​​decision.

At the beginning of the year, the government extinguished an undersecretary that had been created during the Bolsonaro administration to take care of the issue. The Minister of Education during the Lula administration, Camilo Santana, had already indicated that he would not support the measure, but there was still a lack of definition on how the schools would look in the model.

In it, reserve soldiers, as well as military police and firefighters, work in the administration of the school. Unlike purely military schools, which are fully managed by the Army, in this design, the Education departments remain responsible for the school curriculum, but students must wear uniforms and follow rules defined by the military.

The PT is mostly against the model. But there are also those who defend the government in the party and in the subtitles that support the government.

This lack of definition that lasted the first half of 2023 was fueling both criticism of militarization and demands from those who are in favor of it. In Congress, Camilo repeated to congressmen that, in addition to the model not being aligned with government policy, there would be a deviation from the purpose of using education resources to pay military personnel.