More than a year late, the National Education Plan was approved this Wednesday (10) by the Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The text now goes to the Senate for a vote.
The opinion on the project should have been voted on the 25th, but it was postponed several times after evangelical deputies tried to include in the text two articles authorizing home education in the country and the issuance of vouchers for registration in private schools.
The rapporteur of the text, Moses Rodrigues (União-CE), managed to reach an agreement with the deputies so that they withdraw these two amendments. Parliamentarians opposed to the inclusion of these subjects even declared that they were turtles, because it is very urgent to approve the plan.
Provided for in the Constitution, the PNE is a law that defines the objectives, goals and strategies for Brazilian education to be achieved within ten years. The last plan ended in 2024 and the Lula (PT) government was unable to approve the new plan in time for the start of 2025.
Thus, if approved by the Senate, the plan will start one year late, because it covers the period 2025 to 2034.
Among the most discussed points was the question of public financing of education. The objective of reaching public investment for the zone at 10% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 2034 has been maintained. The rapporteur even reduced this objective, but had to back down following strong pressure from civil society entities.
The previous plan also called for reaching 10% public investment by the end of his mandate – which was not the case. In 2025, public investment reached 5.2% of GDP.
Thus, according to the text, Brazil should reach the same level as rich countries, members of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), by 2030 in terms of investment per student as a percentage of GDP.
The most recent data show that Brazil’s public spending per basic education student represents less than a third of the investments made in these countries. While they invest an average of 12,438 US dollars (68.2 thousand reais) per student, Brazil spends 3,872 US dollars (21.2 thousand reais).
In the current plan, the Leaf showed that only 4 of the 20 objectives set were at least partially achieved by the country.
Even without having succeeded in achieving most of the objectives proposed in the last plan, the text approved this Wednesday provides even more ambitious objectives for certain themes. For example, it expands the target of children enrolled in daycare, increasing coverage from 50% to 60% of the population aged 0 to 3 – currently this percentage is 37.3%.
The text also provides that, by 2030, the country will be able to guarantee that 80% of children reach the end of the 2nd year of primary school literate. By 2034, the goal is for 100% of students to be literate at this level. Currently, Brazil can only guarantee this right to 59.2% of children.
The text also adds the objective of ensuring an adequate level of learning in mathematics by the end of the second year.
The notice also establishes the satisfaction of 100% of the demand for EJA (Youth and Adult Education) and the increase to 10% of the population aged 18 to 24 with technical training.
The document also brings something new by proposing a goal on socio-environmental sustainability. They propose that all educational networks have plans for prevention, mitigation and adaptation to climate change. And this, even if 100% of Brazilian schools meet thermal comfort standards.
It also establishes that the country must have by 2030 all basic education teachers with specific training for higher education. And it predicts that at least 70% of teachers will be hired with a stable contract – today, more than half of those who teach in public networks are temporary.
In the commission’s text, an objective presented by Lula’s government concerning the quality of graduates of teacher training courses was also maintained, with the objective that at least half of them will have a level deemed adequate in the Enade (federal test) in five years and 70% in ten years.
The document also contains student performance objectives in the Saeb (Basic Education Assessment System). Proposing to achieve that 70% of students complete the first years of primary school with learning deemed adequate for the stage (today this rate is 43%).
For the last years of primary school, the proposed level is 65% (today it is 18%). For secondary education, it is proposed to reach 60% of students (currently only 7.7% reach this level).
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