RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro called today’s textbooks junk and said his government should modify the material distributed in schools starting in 2021 to “soften” the content.
“There are books that I will be forced to distribute this year, still taking into account their making in previous years. You have to follow the law.”
“From 2021, all the books will be ours, made by us. Parents will celebrate. There will be the Brazilian flag on the cover. The national anthem will be there. Books today, as a rule, are a heap of writing. You have to soften that up. Speaking of softening, I studied the booklet ‘Caminho Suave’, you never forget. Not that garbage that, as a rule, is there,” said Bolsonaro as he left the Palácio da Alvorada.
The president spoke about education spontaneously, while journalists asked questions about other subjects.
He took advantage of the presence of supporters at the door of the official residence of the Presidency of the Republic to address a topic that is dear to him.
“We must seek to make life easier for those who produce, to make this little girl here have an education that will be useful upfront. We must not stay in this little ideology story. This kid is a male, you know. I see here; the kid’s a male. And the idiots are thinking he’s going to “redefine” his gender when he’s 12. Get out there,” he said, pointing to a little boy about six years old who was on his father’s lap.
Since he was a federal congressman, Bolsonaro has been criticizing the Brazilian educational system and blaming the left for the country’s unsatisfactory education rates.
Without presenting evidence, the president usually says that schools are militant instead of offering content to students.
Bolsonaro is a frequent critic of Brazilian thinker Paulo Freire, whose primary work is “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” the most widely cited in academia in social sciences.
Freire was the municipal secretary of Education in São Paulo under leftist Mayor Luiza Erundina. He took in office in 1989, at the age of 67.
Among his accomplishments as secretary are improvements in the approval rate, implementation of school councils, expansion of adult education, and development of innovative projects in information technology and sexual orientation.
On the other hand, he had difficulties with bureaucracy, budget, and companions of his party, the PT.