Government to suspend implementation of the new high school – 03/04/2023 – Education

Pressured by growing criticism from educators and students, the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government is going to suspend the implementation of the new secondary education. An ordinance should be published in the next few days with the interruption of the deadline for implementing the policy.

The text will also suspend the Enem changes planned for 2024, which would adapt the exam to what is foreseen in the new rules of the stage. Enem is the main gateway to public higher education in the country.

This suspension will occur, initially, while the period of public consultation on the subject lasts. Initiated in March, the consultation lasts 90 days, with the possibility of extension, and another 30 days for the MEC (Ministry of Education) to prepare a report.

In practice, the suspension of having a new Enem format in 2024 is the main consequence.

The Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, has given several statements in which he is against the repeal of the new secondary education, as pressured by sectors of the educational debate. He has argued that there should be adjustments to the model and that it would be a step backwards to revoke everything.

The ordinance with the suspension – which, in turn, changes ordinance 521 of July 2021 – has the consent of the team close to President Lula. The assessment of the Planalto Palace is that the government has suffered exaggerated wear and tear by maintaining the reform, especially among students — young people would not represent a consolidated base of support for the president, mainly because they did not live through the years of Lula’s two terms.

A total repeal of the reform would depend on Congressional action, as it was carried out by law. The suspension of deadlines was the solution seen by the government to calm the critics and avoid greater impacts on the image of the government and President Lula.

The new secondary education was approved in 2017, based on a provisional measure (which speeds up the process), and provides for the organization of the timetable in two parts.

Thus, 60% of the workload of the three years is common to all students, with regular subjects. The other 40% are allocated to optional subjects within large areas of knowledge, the so-called training itineraries.

The number of mandatory annual hours goes from 800 to at least 1,000, or from four to five hours a day.

The implementation of the new format became mandatory in 2022 and has registered a series of problems. Students mainly complain about having lost class time in traditional subjects. There are cases of disciplines disconnected from the curriculum and deficiencies in the offer of itineraries to all schools.

The total repeal does not please state secretaries of Education. They argue that they have done important work to structure the new model. More than 80% of high school enrollments are in state systems.

In an interview with the newspaper Diário do Nordeste, Minister Camilo Santana said that “any change in Enem in relation to 2024 due to this issue of the new high school” will be suspended. Questioned, the MEC did not respond.

A working group that deals with the subject meets this Monday afternoon (3) and the ordinance will be the main topic of conversation.

Since the beginning of this year, students, professors and specialists in the field have been calling on the Lula government to have the model revoked. On March 15, students staged a protest pressing for the repeal, in the first clash between student organizations and the PT administration.

The current deadline for implementing the reform culminates in a new Enem format in 2024, when the first class completes the three years of the stage in the new model. Therefore, the ordinance that should be published in the next few days revokes this implementation deadline as well.

Created with the aim of giving young people the option of choosing an area to further their studies, the new high school itineraries are, in practice, being imposed and even raffled among students in state schools across the country.

Due to lack of teachers, physical space, laboratories and crowded classes, schools are unable to meet the option made by all students and end up placing them on the available itineraries. Without having their choice respected, students have 40% of high school classes in areas that are not of interest to them, as shown by a report by Sheet.

The public consultation instituted by the MEC foresees public hearings, workshops, seminars and national surveys with students, teachers and school administrators on the experience of implementing the New Secondary Education in all states.