UEA quota system is defended during public hearing at Aleam

Manaus (AM) – State deputies met, on the morning of this Thursday (4), in a Public Hearing, proposed by the president of the Education Commission (Coed), deputy Cabo Maciel (PL), at the miniplenary Canon Azevedo of the Legislative Assembly of Amazonas (Aleam), to discuss the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), regarding the annulment of the article of law nº 2.894/2004 that establishes 80% of vacancies at the State University of Amazonas (UEA).

Deputy Cabo Maciel (PL), who chaired the hearing, highlighted that unity is needed to find alternatives for the protection of students in Amazonas.

“The peculiarity of our State, our reality in the interior of here, cannot be compared with the reality of the south and southeast of our country. There, those who want to study can go anywhere by car, here our transport is a ferry, a boat, a speedboat and a sterndrive. It takes many hours for our students to arrive at school. It’s a very different reality. We gathered today to seek solutions to help our students, especially those from the countryside”, declared the parliamentarian.

State deputy Thiago Abrahim (União Brasil), declared that it is necessary to maintain the UEA quota system for Amazonian students and that this encourages the permanence and performance of doctors and nurses in the interior municipalities. He pointed out that the quota system is also a way of giving opportunities to indigenous people and public school students.

“That way, we can give people the opportunity to live. Education can transform our lives. I come from the countryside and I will always defend and fight. I want to fight for UEA quotas both for the indigenous people and for the people of the interior and public schools and it is extremely important”, defended Abrahim.

The deputy from União Brasil also said that Amazonian students trained by UEA remain in the state and this generates development and income.

“When UEA trains students, they are the ones who stay here. They are the ones who give us this condition. Today, the interior of the state is experiencing great difficulty due to the lack of doctors. The few doctors who work in the countryside come from the UEA. We need to continue giving this opportunity, maintaining these vacancies for medicine, nursing. This will bring development to our interior. Our inland municipalities are the ones that suffer the most from this shortage of professionals,” he concluded.

Deputy Débora Menezes (PL), who is part of the Education Commission, guarantees that everyone is confident that they will arrive at a solution for the STF decision.

“All efforts to ensure the rights of our students from the countryside to have access to a place at the university must be employed, and at this moment I am sure that both the state and federal benches are mobilizing so that the issue of student quotas be reversed,” said Menezes.

Deputy Mário César Filho (União Brasil), emphasized that he is optimistic and hopes that the STF will reconsider the decision and understand the specificities of Amazonas. If the decision is unfavorable, the parliamentarian defended that the benefit of the quotas be guaranteed through the improvement of the students’ grades and will be studied together with the other parliamentarians, legislative measures that can guarantee the access of the people of Amazonas to the University.

The Deputy Assistant Attorney II of the State Attorney General’s Office (PGE), Dr. Isaltino José Barbosa Neto, summarized the course of the STF judgment and explained that the thesis established by the Court will still be defined

“Right now we don’t know which thesis will be established and which will be applied in universities across the country from there. We know that the quota system with 80% of vacancies destined to Amazonian students has already been considered unconstitutional. We have to wait for the thesis to be fixed, but we can try to arrange an agenda with the Ministers to dialogue about the Court’s thesis and nothing prevents the carrying out of studies of other outputs to honor Amazonian students”, he evaluated.

During the thesis publication process, the working group is aligning legal and political alternatives to resolve the issue without harming students in Amazonas.

“We need to wait for the judgment of this decision, which if deemed unconstitutional and overthrow our quota system here, will affect the whole country based on this decision. In that case, we will be able to create a new Law in that House, which obeys the decision of the STF and offers support to our students”, said Deputy Cabo Maciel.

Besides the parliamentarians, the rector of the UEA, Dr. André Zogahib and representatives of the State Union of Secondary Students of Amazonas (UESA), the Central Directory of Students of UEA (DCE-UEA), the Central Directory of Students of Nilton Lins, the State Union of Students of Amazonas and the Central Popular Movements (CMP).

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