MEC wants to hear from 100,000 students about new high school – 04/06/2023 – Education

The MEC (Ministry of Education) intends to use the WhatsApp chat application to listen to students about the new high school, which has been the target of criticism and pressure for its repeal. The federal government’s initial plan is to reach 100,000 young people.

The country has 7.9 million enrollments in secondary education. Of the total, 84% are in state networks.

The folder also prepares face-to-face public hearings, but assesses that it will not be possible to hold meetings in all states.

The MEC team had planned hearings in only 13 states, but one of the options discussed is that there be regional meetings, with the presence of the ministry, and smaller discussions to reach all federal entities.

Despite an ordinance of March 8 having instituted the public consultation for the evaluation and restructuring of the new high school, until now there has been no listening to students, teachers or secretariats.

Questioned, the MEC did not respond and did not disclose official information about the process.

Even without having carried out public activities, the deadline for this to be done, of 90 days, has been running since the beginning of March. There is a possibility of extension, however the MEC does not work with this scenario.

The opening of this process was the first nod by the Lula government (PT) to critics of the reform, whose implementation has accumulated problems. This week, pressured by the growing criticism from educators and students, the government gave another signal: it decided to suspend the implementation schedule of the new secondary education and changes planned for the 2024 Enem.

The suspension was decided, in large part, as a way to alleviate the wear and tear that the government has been feeling with the movement that calls for the repeal of the reform.

An ordinance was published this Wednesday (5) with the suspension of deadlines. It is valid for up to 60 days after the end of the consultation.

There is no forecast that teaching networks and schools will go back in the implementation process, which started in schools in 2022.

In addition to the public hearings and the process of listening to students, it is planned to carry out workshops, seminars and national surveys with teachers and school administrators on the experience of implementing the new secondary education. This is determined in the ordinance that established the consultation.

This ordinance also created a working group to discuss the issue, under the coordination of the MEC. It is made up of the CNE (National Council of Education), Foncede (National Forum of State and District Councils of Education) and Consed (National Council of Secretaries of Education).

There were at least three meetings of this group. At the last meeting, on Monday (3), MEC’s ​​plans to make the consultation viable were presented.

According to MEC, the idea is to take advantage of the result of this listening process to decide which adjustments and improvements can be made in the new high school. So far, the government refuses to completely revoke the stage reform, which would depend on a law change in the National Congress.

Not even the suspension pleases state education secretaries, who argue that they have done important work to structure the new model.

In general terms, the policy reformulated the curriculum for the final years of basic education, so as to provide that 40% of the load is allocated to elective subjects organized within large areas of knowledge, the so-called training itineraries. Thus, the traditional subjects, common to students, are limited to 60% of the curriculum.

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 content disconnected from the curriculum and lack of options for students.

The main consequence of suspending the schedule is to interrupt the changes that were planned for Enem in 2024, which would adapt the exam to the new high school. Thus, there would be different versions of the test directed to each area of ​​knowledge.

Implementation for students began in 2022, in the 1st year of the stage, when all state networks in the country needed to adapt. Most private schools did the same.

In 2023, the change continued for 2nd year students and, in 2024, it would reach the 3rd classes, completing high school. Even in the face of strong criticism of the precariousness of the school offer, this schedule was being followed by the education networks.

Data from the 2022 School Census, the most recent, indicate that 2.9 million students were in the 1st year and, discounting dropout and dropout rates, would be able to attend the 2nd year in 2023 —thus being a potential contingent of candidates for Enem in 2024, when they should finish high school.

Without the change in the national exam, which is the main gateway to higher education, these students will have studied under the reformulated curriculum, but they will not take a test adapted to this reality.

There are five itineraries planned with the reform of secondary education: languages, mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences and technical and professional training. If the student chose the mathematics itinerary, for example, he would have a greater load of exact sciences and a smaller load of humanities in the exam.