Lula government decision affects 15% of militarized schools – 07/13/2023 – Education

The decision of the Lula administration (PT) to extinguish the federal program to promote civic-military education affects, in practice, less than 15% of the more than 800 public schools that follow this model in the country.

The federal government left the decision of whether or not to maintain the system in their schools in the hands of states and municipalities.

Therefore, shortly after the announcement, governors and mayors announced not only that they will keep military personnel in the schools of their networks, but also the expansion to more units and even the creation of new programs.

For experts, this is an indication that the decision to end the federal program could boost the militarization of basic education – a flag of the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), was one of those who took the opportunity to announce that he will publish a decree creating a program of civic-military schools in the state.

Since the beginning of his administration, Tarcísio has always stated that he had no plans to militarize units in the São Paulo network. A Sheet questioned the government about the change in stance, but there was no response.

For researchers on the subject, when seeking a mild and gradual solution to end the program, the Lula government, which is mostly against the militarization of schools, ended up reactivating this Bolsonarist agenda in education.

“The great contradiction of this announcement is that, by extinguishing the federal program, it boosted the militarization agenda. The fragile decision of the Ministry of Education ended up encouraging and giving space for governors and mayors to promote themselves with this flag”, says Salomão Ximenes .

Specialists consider that the decision was fragile since the government only announced that it will suspend the promotion of the model. For them, the Ministry of Education should regulate the presence of military personnel in schools since, a study carried out by the ministry itself to anchor the decision, pointed out that the model violates the Constitution and guidelines of Brazilian education.

“The MEC adopts a silent posture in relation to militarization. The presence of the military in schools disrespects the LDB [Lei de Diretrizes e Bases] and the ministry is responsible for preserving and ensuring compliance with it. For this reason, just putting an end to the program is not enough”, says Ximenes.

Article 61 of the LDB, which defines the necessary qualifications for professionals in basic school education, says that they must be qualified to teach. Demand that is not made to the military who work in schools.

The Military Statute also does not provide, in any of its provisions, that activities dedicated to public education policies are part of its attributions.

The MEC study itself warns that the allocation of military personnel to school functions is “a flagrant deviation from its purpose as a State structure”.

The same study cites that 202 public schools in the country operate within the federal program. They gather around 120,000 elementary and high school students.

However, support from the federal government happened, in practice, to only 120 of these units. They received personnel from the Armed Forces to work in school management and monitoring.

The other 82 units allocate with their own military financial resources from the Armed Forces or from the military police to school activities. In theory, they should receive an additional value from MEC for joining the federal program, but the study identified that they received only 0.24% of the budget that had been promised.

Between 2020 and 2022, MEC provided around BRL 93.4 million to these schools, but only BRL 245,000 was actually paid.

“The Pecim, formulated by the Bolsonaro government, had two models. One that placed Armed Forces soldiers inside schools, this format was demobilized by the current management with the announced decision”, said Salomão.

“The second model had much more a dimension of inducing militarization across the country. The MEC did not provide personnel, but provided a bonus for schools that adhered to the model. Even without the transfer of extra resources, the strategy of disseminating the model seems to have worked,” he explains.

A survey carried out by Repme (National Research Network on the Militarization of Education) in March of this year identified 816 state and municipal schools with militarization programs.

“The policy of militarization began in the 1990s, long before the Bolsonaro government’s initiative. But it is undeniable that the former president’s stance helped to spread this model”, says researcher Catarina Santos, a professor at UnB and linked to the network. responsible for the survey.

“It happens that the format is being expanded with different programs, formatting and without any regulation or control by the MEC”, she says.

In 2015, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (United Nations) released a report expressing concern about the progress of these units in Brazil. Experts condemn the militarization of education, with the presence of police in school units, and claim that conventional schools can also improve their results if they receive special attention.

The units gained prominence in recent years because of positive educational indicators and for tackling the problem of indiscipline. Federation units such as Paraná and the Federal District, for example, have already announced that they will not abandon the model regardless of the PT government’s decision.

In these states, militarization occurs precisely with the presence of military police and firefighters, who may even be active duty, and not with agents of the Armed Forces, as the MEC project under Bolsonaro inaugurated.

A Sheet questioned the MEC about its responsibility to regulate the presence of military personnel in public schools in the country, but the ministry did not respond if it intends to adopt new measures. This Thursday (11), Minister Caamilo Santana said, in an interview, that the decision to extinguish the program came after the warning that there is no legal basis for the portfolio to transfer resources to the Ministry of Defense.