A member of the group leading the strike of teachers and state school employees in Paraná, which happened last week, historian and teacher Hellen Lima points out that there is a project underway in the Ratinho Jr (Social Democratic Party) government to privatize public education. It began with former State Secretary of Education Renato Feder, currently in São Paulo, and has also reached a new level of repression with the suggestion that the president of the Paraná Public Education Workers' Union (known in Portuguese as APP), Walkiria Mazeto, should be arrested by the State Attorney General's Office.
Now, the director of the APP-Sindicato branch (responsible for southern Brazil) points out that the challenge is to draw the attention of the grassroots and schools themselves:
Now, another front of struggle is opening up in school communities. Our tasks continue to be to denounce all the damage done by this nefarious project and to organize resistance in all the schools so that they can stop the privatization process in the public consultation. We know it won't be an easy task, as the state will certainly use its entire public machine to spread lies, and try to convince parents, students and education workers otherwise.
Read below the full interview:
Brasil de Fato Paraná: Has the current strike shown that the Ratinho Jr government, since the days of Secretary Feder, has been treating the educational system of Paraná state as a laboratory for neoliberal practices?
Hellen Lima: Yes, Ratinho Jr's government has implemented a series of neoliberal, privatizing and anti-democratic policies not only in education, but in various areas of public interest, such as the sale of Copel (Paraná state energy company). In education, right at the beginning of his first administration, Ratinho Jr outsourced school staff, extinguishing the position of Educational Agents I and II, who carry out administrative and maintenance duties within schools (in offices and libraries), cleaning and preparing food for students, and who are now hired by various companies with precarious contracts and numerous reports of irregularities that violate labor rights. Another policy affecting schools, conceived by former secretary Renato Feder and continued by current Secretary of Education Roni Miranda, is platformization, that is, the use of various digital platforms that have diminished teachers’ autonomy.
What is the main damage these platforms cause?
These platforms, which are also bought from private companies, create a whole system of standardization, inspection and pressure on a large scale, affecting school management, teaching teams, educators and students. In addition, the expansion of civic-military schools undermines the democratic principle of public schools as we know it, accumulating accusations of exclusion, prejudice and abuse. The recent approval of the law establishing the so-called School Partners project is the culmination of this privatizing project against public schools. We can see from the way it was approved, opposing all the union protests, students and society in general, even going over the Federal Constitution itself, that Ratinho Jr and his businessmen friends think there are no limits when it comes to swallowing public resources for their personal benefit.
Can it be said that, with the arrest of two demonstrators and the request for the arrest of the APP president, Walkiria Mazetto, there is a new level of repression?
Certainly. It didn’t happen since the dictatorship, and even in times of great repression against the struggle of educators and school staff, there has never been a request for the arrest of a union leader. This demonstrates the alliance of the state legal apparatuses, which follow the arbitrary orders of the government. This repressive action, as well as the punitive measures taken by the Education Department targeting strikers, reveal the neoliberal and authoritarian nature of this government.
What tasks do educators have now that the bill has been approved by the Legislative Assembly of Paraná?
Part of the struggle was very effective: our strike put the issue of school privatization on the national agenda. Legally, we're also putting up every possible measure to overturn this unconstitutional bill. But our main resistance is on the streets. Now, another front of struggle is opening up in school communities. Our tasks continue to be to denounce all the damage done by this nefarious project and to organize resistance in all the schools to stop privatization in the public consultation. We know it won't be an easy task, as the state will certainly use its entire public machine to spread lies and try to convince parents, students and education workers otherwise. However, our mobilization remains strong, with the Assembly deciding to build a great day of struggle until October, when community consultations are scheduled to take place.
Edited by: Lucas Botelho
