Nikolas Ferreira never presented a project on education – 03/08/2024 – Education

None of the seven bills presented in the Chamber by the new president of the House Education Committee, deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG), deal with the topic that is the focus of the collegiate.

The parliamentarian is known for his support for Bolsonarism and defense of ideological agendas, which, according to interlocutors in Congress and the government, could guide his activities in office to the detriment of important agendas.

The deputy was appointed by his party to chair this permanent committee of the Chamber, which took effect on Wednesday (6). The collegiate is responsible for, in the regular process, considering bills on the subject, promoting debates and inviting experts and politicians — it is common for Education Ministers and directors of bodies linked to the department to provide clarifications.

There is fear among parliamentarians involved with the topic that ideological discussions will hijack the commission’s activities and harm the analysis of important matters for the area. Therefore, the view among them is that the deputy’s lack of connection with the discussion on the challenges of education could impact the debates.

It is common for many issues of interest to the government not to pass through the commissions. But one concern is that, while the government puts energy into ensuring approval of priority agendas of an economic or political nature, the commission becomes the stage for advancing an agenda in the field of customs.

Nikolas Ferreira was approached by Sheet, but did not return. On X (formerly Twitter), he published that he intends to guarantee space for all members and that “democracy will not be relative in the commission”. And he listed themes that he intends to touch on.

“In this year of presidency, we will debate important and complex issues such as: National Education Plan, Safety in Schools, strengthening Basic Education, homeschooling, among many other topics that are important for Education in our country. To this end, we will hold public hearings, we will create subcommittees and oversee the current Government’s national education policy. I am committed to working with the Commission so that education in Brazil is a solid foundation for everyone”, he said.

One of the banners of right-wing and religious groups, the regulation of home education (homeschooling) has already been approved in the Chamber in 2022. The text remains stuck in the Senate.

Deputy Bacelar (PV-BA) states that Nikolas Ferreira has the right to apply for and occupy the position because he was elected, but criticizes the PL’s decision to nominate him due to the risk that he could politicize and partisan the discussions.

“It is very bad for a first-term deputy, in the second year of his term, to preside over a committee with the importance of Education. And he is not a person in the area, he has no knowledge”, says Bacelar. “Issues that need a lot of discussion could be harmed by a retrograde agenda that he indicates.”

Deputy Idilvan Alencar (PDT-CE) is another who is very concerned about the nomination and states that there will be combativeness. “The Education Commission will not be a circus ring. Let his circus show remain on your social networks”, he says.

Representative Dandara (PT-MG) classifies the new president of the commission as an enemy of public, diverse, plural and democratic education. “We know that where the extreme right is, the discussion is reduced to false ideological debates that want to hide the true project of censorship, exclusion and discrimination, criminalization of teachers and privatization of education”, she states.

“It’s a shame that we have a deputy president of the Education Commission convicted in the second instance for transphobic speech, accused of a crime of transphobia against a 14-year-old child and who defends anti-vaccine denialism”, he adds.

Last year, the Justice in Minas Gerais accepted the Public Ministry’s complaint against the parliamentarian for intolerance due to gender identity or expression. The complaint was made in July 2022, after the then councilor for Belo Horizonte showed on social media part of a video about a 14-year-old trans student in the bathroom of a private school in the capital of Minas Gerais — the recording was made by the student’s sister , also a teenager.

In February 2023, the Justice in Minas Gerais had already accepted another complaint against the parliamentarian, presented by federal deputy Duda Salabert (PDT), who is a transgender woman, for racial insult. In April, the deputy was sentenced, in the first instance, to pay R$80,000 to Salabert.

A new format for teacher training and improvements to careers, secondary education, the national education system and the restoration of the budgets of federal universities are some of the topics that parliamentarians place as a priority for discussions in the committee.

The composition of a new PNE (National Education Plan) will be one of the biggest legislative challenges for the government starting this year. The plan lists educational goals for a ten-year period, and the current one expires this year. The MEC (Ministry of Education) should forward a text proposal soon. It is not yet possible to know whether it will pass the education commission.

When the current PNE was defined in 2014, a mobilization of right-wing politicians and activists managed to remove goals and strategies related to gender equality from the text, for example. It is very likely that there will be new disputes in this regard.

Despite not devoting attention to education in his few proposals for new laws, Nikolas Ferreira has echoed the discourse that there would be left-wing ideological indoctrination in schools and colleges. He is vice-president of a parliamentary front, organized by his party, which has this objective.

There is a consensus among educators, experts and public policy makers that this supposed indoctrination does not constitute a real challenge to public education, even if there are specific cases.

Exploiting an ideological bias is one of the hallmarks of right-wing politicians when it comes to education. This was one of the characteristics of the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). A supposed early sexualization that would be carried out in schools is another common ingredient in this environment.

One of the legislative facets of this discourse is the Escola sem Partido project, which advocated limiting what teachers can say in the classroom. The right-wing parliamentarians who support this idea never managed to make a breakthrough in Congress. In 2018, a commission dealt with the matter, but ended its work without being able to vote.

There were attempts to resume the agenda during the Bolsonaro government, but also without success. The main reason was the decision of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) that considered it unconstitutional to limit what the teacher can say in the classroom due to principles such as academic freedom.