The Ministry of Education (MEC) will present protocols for preventing and responding to racism in schools. The notices with the proposals will be published in the coming months and can be applied to all educational institutions in the country – public and private. The measure is part of the design of the National Education Policy for Ethnic-Racial Relations, which should be announced on the 14th.
In total, the policy has seven axes, one of which is the diagnosis of monitoring the implementation of Law 10,639/2003, which determined the mandatory inclusion of the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture in all stages of basic education.
The announcement was made amid recent cases of racism in teaching units. One of them occurred on April 3, in Brasília, when students from the Franciscan School Nossa Senhora de Fátima were harassed with racist insults by students from Colégio Galois, during a futsal match valid for the League of Schools tournament. Because of the episode, Colégio Galois – a private school in the federal capital – expelled some of those identified involved, with others asking to leave the institution.
Another case that had wide repercussion was reported by actress Samara Felippo, who filed an electronic police report after her 14-year-old daughter was a victim of racism at a high-end school in São Paulo.
According to the State Department of Public Security (SSP), in the incident record the actress mentioned that racist insults were written in one of her daughter’s notebooks. The case was registered as “race or color prejudice” and is being analyzed by the 14th Police District of Pinheiros, in the capital of São Paulo. The episode took place at Escola Vera Cruz, in the Pinheiros neighborhood, and two students involved were suspended by the school.
A survey released last year showed that 71% of municipal education departments do not have consistent actions to comply with legislation. Another study released this year indicates that around 90% of daycare and preschool education classes ignore racial topics.
To accelerate the implementation of Law 10,639/2003, the MEC must announce work to strengthen educational networks through a regime of collaboration and federative coordination. Financial, technical and symbolic incentives are foreseen in the implementation of the national education policy on ethnic-racial relations.
Didatic books
According to the MEC, a commission – formed by the Secretariat of Basic Education (SEB), Secretariat of Continuing Education, Youth and Adult Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion (Secadi) and the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) – has produced analyzes to improve notices of the National Book and Teaching Material Program (PNLD).
This program evaluates and makes didactic, pedagogical and literary works available, among other materials to support educational practice, in a systematic, regular and free manner, to public basic education schools in the federal, state, municipal and district networks and also to educational institutions community, confessional or philanthropic non-profit children’s institutions and in partnership with public authorities.
In addition to textbooks, the national policy to be launched by the MEC this month should highlight the publication of literary books focused on ethnic-racial themes.
“Another concern of the MEC in relation to the topic is teacher training. It is understood that it is necessary to train teachers, but also managers and technicians, after all, decision makers within schools are important actors in this process. In this In this sense, the training design contemplates all these dimensions”, informed the Ministry of Education to Brazil Agency.
