Lula meets with rectors and says that the country is “coming out of darkness”

Education

The meeting at Planalto was attended by around 100 deans of universities and federal institutes of education

Brasilia DF) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) took advantage of the first meeting with presidents of universities and federal institutes, this Thursday (19), at the Planalto Palace, to criticize the management of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in Education .

The president fulfilled his campaign promise and invited the professors in the first month of his administration. Lula reinforced that meetings like this one were suspended during his predecessor’s administration.

“We are starting a new moment. I know the obscurantism you’ve lived in these last four years. And I want to say that we are leaving the darkness to return to the brightness of a new time”,

declared to the principals.

The meeting at Planalto was attended by around 100 deans of universities and federal education institutes. Ministers Rui Costa (Casa Civil), Márcio Macedo (General Secretariat of the Presidency), Camilo Santana (Education) and Luciana Santos (Science, Technology and Innovation) also participated.

The president said that he will nominate professors chosen by the federal universities as dean. The posture will represent an inflection in relation to the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), which adopted an open policy of appointing ideologically aligned leaders.

“Don’t think that Lula is going to choose the dean he likes. Those who have to like the dean are the university professors, the university employees, it is the university community that has to know who can manage the university”,

said Lula, who guaranteed respect for the community’s will and promised an annual meeting with rectors.

Lula recalled that, in his first administration, he and the then Minister of Education (and current head of Finance), Fernando Haddad, created the habit of meeting with university representatives at least once a year to hear demands and discuss projects. .

Bolsonaro broke, in his administration, a tradition of nominating the first place from a triple list produced by universities after consultation with the community. The former president disregarded the most voted in at least 40% of nominations for dean, according to a balance made up to 2021.

The number of times Bolsonaro disregarded the most voted candidate and the political and ideological motivations behind these choices led professors to point out an attack on the constitutional principle of university autonomy. At UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), for example, the choice of Carlos Bulhões, in 3rd place, was announced in advance by Bolsonarist deputy Bibo Nunes (PSL-RS), explaining political interference.

At the opening of the meeting, Lula said that the meeting with the rectors was a “meeting with civilization” and poked Bolsonaro for not having received the leaders.

“You need to know that a meeting with you is a meeting of civilization. I was never able to understand the difficulty that the President of the Republic had in meeting with rectors once a year. I don’t know in history president that [não] received a set of deans and the only explanation was fear that you would make claims”,

stated.

Camilo Santana, Minister of Education, lamented what he called the “dismantling” of education and has already admitted that some goals cannot be achieved.

“We have to look at education in a systemic way, from kindergarten to graduate school. Only a third of Brazilian children learn to read and write at the right age, this compromises the entire cycle”,

declared.

According to deans present, general meetings with federal deans have not taken place “for many years”, with no record that there have been any during the Bolsonaro government.

“Universities were mistreated, mistreated, budgetary squeezed. We were targeted, and worse: we were removed from our main role, which is to be at the service of Brazil, of national development projects”,

said the president of Andifes (National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education), Ricardo Fonseca, rector of UFPR, who gave the opening speech.

*With information from UOL and Folhapress

Read more:

Lula says that the intelligence system “did not exist” on the day of the anti-democratic acts in Brasilia

Lula says minimum wage has to rise according to the economy

Omar Aziz articulates Lula’s visit to the AM: “The probability of him coming is very high”