Lula on attacks: Let’s not turn school into prison – 04/18/2023 – Daily life

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) said that the recent attacks on schools are a new situation about which there is little knowledge about what to do. Lula led a meeting in Brasília this Tuesday (18th) with the heads of the Three Powers, in addition to governors and mayors, to discuss actions to prevent violence in schools.

“We are facing a new fact. Because violence has existed in our lives since we were born,” he said, noting that many children die on the periphery on a daily basis. “The new fact is that they invaded a place that for us was taken as a place of security.”

The government announced a package of actions to improve school safety, which includes the release of R$ 3 billion in resources from the MEC (Ministry of Education) – these are resources already foreseen in the budget.

According to Lula, it makes no sense just to increase security apparatuses in schools without attacking motivations.

“We are not going to turn our schools into a maximum security prison,” the president said.

“There is no money for this, nor is it politically correct, humanly correct, socially correct. If we try to do this, we are demonstrating that we are not good for much, because we do not know how to solve the real problem.”

Earlier this month, a man entered a private school in Blumenau (SC) and killed four children. The case occurred nine days after the attack on the Thomazia Montoro state school, in São Paulo, when a 13-year-old student stabbed a teacher to death and injured five other people, including three teachers.

Supposed threats of attacks have changed the routine of schools across the country. Although most of the messages are false, parents, students and teachers report fear, and experts recommend reporting cases to the authorities.

The president highlighted the role of social networks in the dissemination of hate speech and the importance of the family in the relationship with children.

“When a child thinks a gun is the solution, why does he think that? Did he see it in the Bible? No. In the school book? No. He heard it from his father at home, or from his mother. And that’s why he has to have taking into account that without the participation of parents, the educational process in schools cannot be recovered”, said Lula.

Lula reaffirmed that this Tuesday’s meeting was called so that the problem could be dealt with jointly, since there are no easy answers.

“What we are doing here is trying to share a serious problem that hurts everyone,” he says. “We are not going to solve this with money, but with attitude,” he added.

“Never before in the country’s history has there been a meeting like this in the face of such a serious problem. You are participating in the most important meeting to discuss violence in schools in this country. I called because I became aware that I don’t have the answer.”