Demonstration during the Pedagogy students meeting in Petrolina, Northeast of Brazil
The struggle for Education in Brazil is getting sharper, on December 7, in a public hearing in Brasilia, students participated in order to denounce the pedagogue profession regulation sham (the draft bill 6847/17). This draft does not solve the wage issue, does not promote the profession, removes the autonomy in class practice, does not recognize the scientific character of the pedagogy course – change the formation paradigms into “class givers” following the World Bank booklets. The masteries student representing the National Executive of the Pedagogy Students (ExNEPe) denounced that the pedagogue profession is being considered a threat to society and has to be strictly controlled.
video of the denouncing in the public hearing, December 7
In November 23, the national mobilization in defence of education was held in many cities around the country, the National Struggle for Public Education Day, and was headed by the ExNEPe. In Rio de Janeiro around 100 students held the demonstrations in the streets near the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) and a puppet symbolizing Michel Temer was burned. In São Paulo there were two demonstrations in the Guarulhos minicipality, in the morning they held burning barricades in one of the most important roads of the country, Presidente Dutra road (BR–116) and in the afternoon a demonstration was held near the Bonssucesso Shopping mall, a very crowded place. In Belo Horizonte city, Minas Gerais state, a demonstration that started in the Minas Gerais Federal University (UFMG) and crossed many buildings in the campus and when they arrived at Antonio Carlos road they held a burning barricade.
Demonstration in Minas Gerais, November 23
Since 2004, imperialism is lending a huge amount of dollars and euro into Brazilian higher education, not to improve it, but to turn it into a good and to get maximum profit. Combined with this investment, the Pro-Uni and Fies policies that sponsor private education companies with public money. The situation is similar to what happened in the USA during the 70s, that seeing that half the working students were older and higher education did not reached working youth, so the Apollo Group and Phoenix University started to implement a huge network of specific education units and the On-line education – which in Brazil, nowadays, the majority of the higher education students are in “distance education” on-line courses. At the same time the private education companies receive a lot of money, the public institutions are losing their budget every time more, many public schools are being closed and the public universities are being privatised part by part. Many mobilizations and strikes in education has been taking place In the country, in 2012 a big national strike movement took place, also in 2013 there was important teachers movement and strikes, in 2014 another big movement was held and now in 2017 the situation is even sharper and big movements are going to rise.
The struggle for public education is very important, not only for the good conditions and dignity of the education workers and students, but in order to break the walls of the university and serve the people. The education system has to be integrated with the needs of the people, not the private companies and imperialism, in order to do so, the education movement has to merge with the workers and peasants movement in the New Democracy Revolution.
