Public Note #43 - Corruption and violation of the rights of children and adolescents in the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC)

The Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights – the Arns Commission – has been following with concern and dismay the episodes of corruption and violation of fundamental rights of children and adolescents by the federal government in the Ministry of Education.

Complaints containing audios indicate that the Ministry prioritized the approval of funds for municipalities that meet the private interests of people indicated by the President of the Republic himself and of religious groups close to the minister.

The Federal Constitution establishes education as a fundamental right to all and a duty of the State, which is also especially established in the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional, in Portuguese). There is a great challenge in making this right a reality. Data from the last National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios – PNAD, in Portuguese) and the 2021 School Census indicate that almost two million students have dropped out of school – from kindergarten to high school – in the last five years. The number of elementary school students who cannot read has increased by almost 70%. Already, 41% of 6 and 7-year-old children are not literate.

At the same time, the budget resources allocated to the Ministry of Science in 2020 were 78% less than in 2010, the lowest amount since the 2000s. Funds and endowments for investments such as those for school and university renovations, laboratories, and equipment, among others, have plummeted in the Ministry of Education.

Such situations are totally incongruous. We are coming out of the pandemic with a huge deficit in education. Instead of focusing forces on the promotion of this right, we see a complete abandonment of the sector, relegating it to cheap (or very expensive, in fact) negotiations. \ \ Supervision institutions must investigate the accusations of corruption in the Ministry of Education, reaffirming the superior interest of the child and the adolescent with absolute priority in the execution of public policies for the realization of the right to education.

São Paulo, March 25th, 2022. Arns Commission

Photo: Marcos Oliveira/ Agência Senado