PL on scholarships for secondary education confirms Lula’s plans – 12/11/2023 – Education

Representative Pedro Uczai (PT) presented this Monday (11) the report on the bill that creates a financial incentive program for poor students to remain in high school. The text converges with the Lula government’s plans to create a private financing fund.

There is also a guarantee of monthly payments and savings to be withdrawn after completing the stage.

Lula issued an MP (provisional measure) to create this program, with provision for a fund of up to R$20 billion. But the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), defined that Congress will allow the initiative to lapse, which will be implemented by a bill — which created a rift in the government due to the protagonism over the program.

Uczai then went on to report on a 2021 bill by Congresswoman Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP). The team of parliamentarians expect to vote this week in the Chamber plenary.

There is a rush on the part of the government on this issue so that payments can begin to be made from 2024 onwards. The government base has articulated the guarantee of a budget of R$7 billion for 2024.

“We are going to do everything we can to get this project approved this year, so that our students will benefit from it in 2024,” says Uczai, who maintained a dialogue with the MEC about the text.

The report maintains the forecast for the creation of the private fund and the definition that the beneficiaries are poor students registered with CadÚnico, a register adopted for social programs such as Bolsa Família. It is estimated that 2.5 million young people can be covered. Newly, the text prioritizes, in addition to social vulnerability, students enrolled full-time.

Like the MP, the bill does not provide details on the design for payments or amounts, but the deputy’s team indicated that it should follow the model prepared internally by the MEC, revealed by Sheet.

If the project is approved, each student will receive R$200 per month for ten months and a further savings of R$1,000 per year until the 3rd year. This amount can only be withdrawn after completing regular education. This operationalization will be defined in legal regulations, but these conditions would already be agreed.

With this design, the calculated cost for 2024 is R$7 billion, which is in line with the R$1 billion already foreseen in the budget and the R$6 billion approved in a Senate project this Tuesday (29) for this policy .

The contributions for 2025 and 2026, which would also be around R$7 billion each year, will be included in the respective Budgets, according to government interlocutors. The sum would reach the limit of up to R$20 billion provided for in the MP signed by Lula.

Placed as a management priority, the program seeks to reduce the high dropout rates — 8.8% of students leave school in the first year of high school.

For students to access the incentive, they must comply with the following conditions: enroll at the beginning of the school year, attend adequate school, be approved at the end of each year and participate in assessments, such as Saeb (federal assessment of basic education) and Enem, for 3rd year students.

Secondary education represents one of the biggest bottlenecks in Brazilian education. This problem is concentrated among the poorest, and research shows that many young people leave school to work.

The creation of a federal scholarship program in secondary education was a commitment made by the then candidate for Palácio do Planalto, Simone Tebet. Before announcing her support for Lula, she made it a condition to incorporate this promise into the PT government program. Today Tebet is Minister of Planning.