Brazil suffered 20-year setback in education due to pandemic, says secretary

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to Maurício Cunha, interviewed this Sunday (25) in the program Brasil em Pauta, more than 3 million Brazilian children do not have access to remote education.

“With the pandemic, we have gone back 20 years in Brazilian education,” he said. In addition, these children live out of school with nutritional problems (for many, the snack was the only meal of the day), psychological problems, violence (teachers are among the main plaintiffs in domestic violence against children), and socialization problems.

During the interview, the secretary also discussed the 31st anniversary of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA), which is celebrated this month.

According to him, the ECA was a milestone in legislation that dealt with this public with the inauguration of the doctrine of comprehensive protection, in which the child comes to be seen as a subject of rights and not just an object of intervention.

The law also introduced the concept of the child in a special developmental situation: it must be protected and loved. “The child is not a small adult. Children do not have to submit to the rules of the labor market. They need to learn, be protected, and play. We need to plant seeds so they can thrive as an adult,” he said.

The full interview will air this Sunday (25) at 8:30 PM on TV Brasil em Pauta.