See which topics Nikolas Ferreira will prioritize in the Chamber’s Education Committee

Federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG), elected president of the Education Committee of the Chamber of Deputies this Wednesday (6), announced that he will prioritize issues that are difficult for the federal government during his command, including home education – homeschooling – and the National Education Plan (PNE), which was harshly criticized by the agribusiness and evangelical benches in Congress at the beginning of the year.

Ferreira announced, on social media, some of the “important and complex” topics that will be discussed during his command of the commission. According to him, public hearings, subcommittees and inspection of the “PNE of the current government” will be held.

“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”, he said.

Among the issues contested by the benches is the proposal to demilitarize schools, criticism of “homeschooling”, the Escola Sem Partido movement and policies considered ultra-conservative. The deputies prepared a note shortly before the National Education Conference (Conae), in January, also criticizing the defense of gender and religious diversity, as well as debates on LGBTQIA+ and environmental issues.

Last week, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) classified “homeschooling” as “racist” and that it had been invented in the United States to separate white children from schools attended by black people.

“The MEC was over. What was there was homeschooling. This is a racist proposal that was invented in the United States because [diziam] ‘look, if there are black people at school, my son won’t go to school, he will study at home’. How can this be possible”, he asked in an interview with GloboNews.

During the closing of the National Education Conference (Conae) at the end of January, Lula attacked Bolsonaro because of the method and stated that he was against public education by promoting civic-military schools and trying to make “homeschooling” viable.

As shown by People’s Gazette, Conae had several structural problems. In October, the MEC and the presidency released the base document to guide discussions at the event.

The text has several ideological issues, making clear opposition to “ultra-conservative policies”, such as “homeschooling” and opposition to agribusiness in the classroom.

Evangelicals and agribusiness entrepreneurs highlight that the proposal exposes several political-ideological issues. The joint criticism from parliamentary fronts intensifies tension between the Executive and the Legislative.