The government updates the decree on inclusive education in agreement with the opposition after the fury of the institutions

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The federal government’s agreement with opposition deputies and senators kept in force the new National Policy for Inclusive Special Education and calmed the fury of private establishments of specialized educational services.

Dozens of PDL (Draft Legislative Decree) aimed at suspending Decree No. 12.686 of October 20, 2025 have been submitted to the National Congress in recent weeks, with reports from Federal Deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) and Senator Flávio Arns (PSB-PR). And representatives from entities such as the National Federation of Pestalozzi Associations (Apae Brasil) and the National Federation of Pestalozzi Associations (Fenapestalozzi) traveled to Brasilia to pressure Minister Camilo Santana (Education) to change the decree.

The extracts that provoked aggressive reactions from private institutions have been amended and are now in force in Decree No. 12,773 of December 8, 2025, which, in practice, replaced Decree No. 7,611/2011. The measure does not concern the amounts or percentages transferred to schools or institutions and, as a decree cannot repeal a law, they do not affect the resources of the entities. In 2025, according to Camilo Santana, Minister of Education, the volume of Fundeb (Fund for the maintenance and development of basic education and the enhancement of educational professionals) intended for apaes and pestalozzi – and not for ordinary schools – reached 7.9 billion reais.

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DECREE N° 12.773 OF DECEMBER 8, 2025

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The National Education Orientation and Basics Law (No. 9.394/1996) establishes that: “Art. 4 The duty of the State towards public school education will be fulfilled by guaranteeing: III – free specialized educational assistance to disabled students, suffering from global developmental disorders and high abilities or giftedness, transversal at all levels, stages and modalities, preferably in the regular educational network”.

And Law No. 14,113/2020, which regulates Fundeb, determines that (art. 7, point d) “in special education, offered by establishments that operate exclusively in this modality for extracurricular specialized educational assistance for students enrolled in the public basic education network and also for comprehensive assistance to students with disabilities noted in a biopsychosocial evaluation, carried out periodically by a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team, according to the terms of Law no. and guaranteeing the right to education and lifelong learning”.

In a publication related to the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, March 12, the Ministry of Education (MEC) claims to have allocated an additional 200 million reais for specialized educational services in public schools and defends the new decree. “It aims to reaffirm the commitment expressed in the National Special Education Policy from the Perspective of Inclusive Education of 2008, in the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006) and in the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, with an inclusive educational system at all levels, stages and modalities, guaranteeing that students who are part of special education have the right to quality education, in conditions of equality with other students.”

Analytical – Entities dedicated to inclusive education evaluate the new decree positively.

Turma do Jiló affirms that the measure recognizes important advances in the consolidation of inclusive education in Brazil, but identifies gaps and critical points, such as “the lack of clear definition of the curricular components necessary for the training of support professionals, the criteria for accreditation of private, philanthropic and community AEE centers which are still not very detailed, the absence of quality parameters for the acquisition and use of assistive technologies, the absence of specific mention of the responsibilities of teachers in the process teaching and learning of students with disabilities and the lack of broad social participation and public consultation, particularly with families, movements of people with disabilities, experts and educators.

The Rodrigo Mendes Institute (IRM) affirms that the decree “does not present any twist or rupture that justifies resistance. The education of people with disabilities is a historic process supported by the Constitution. It is clear that there is still a lot to do, but it is not possible to hope for ideal conditions for carrying out historic repairs. In fact, it is precisely because many students with disabilities are already in mainstream schools that there is an urgent need to strengthen it for everyone and with everyone.

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