Lula defines that the high school scholarship will be R$200 per month

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed this Friday (26) the decree that formalizes the rules of “Pé de Meia”, a federal program that will grant scholarships and savings to keep poor students in high school. According to the text, young people from families that receive Bolsa Família will benefit, in the amount of R$200, so as not to leave school.

There will be ten installments of R$200 per year and an additional installment of R$200 for the student who participates in the National High School Exam (Enem). There is also provision for a single installment of R$1,000 to be withdrawn only upon completion of high school upon passing the school year and participating in educational assessments.

In total, the “Pé de Meia” program will have an investment of R$6.1 billion according to the government. Lula stated, during the presentation, that the benefit “must be a State program, not a government program”, and said that mayors and governors “must take into account that we are going to seriously monitor this program”.

“Society often doesn’t know who is responsible for elementary education,” he said. Minister Camilo Santana, of Education, stated shortly before that the program will guarantee “financial assistance so that these young people remain in school and do not have to choose between a plate of food or studying”.

The statements were made during the “Brazil United for Education” event, in which Santana presented an overview of the area’s actions throughout 2023. He also highlighted the change in the occupation of vacancies in the Quota Law, the universalization of access to internet in all public schools in the country and the creation of 3.2 million places in full-time schools by 2026, and the release of Pisa data in 2025 by each state.

Lula called for “complicity in responsibility for the situation that the country has […] we are reaping 350 years of slavery, in which a ruling elite did not believe in education for all”. He also highlighted that the program will only bring the expected benefits with a “quality” improvement in teacher training and the incentive for parents to monitor their children’s school life and the school they attend.

“There was a time when those who governed this country were not concerned with education for all, [em que] Poor women and poor young people didn’t have to study”, he said.

He also stated that the University of São Paulo (USP), where he attended the institution’s 90th anniversary ceremony this Thursday (25), was “created for white people” and that today half of its students come from the periphery.