UNESCO and Todos pela Educação will meet in Brasília on 15 December 2022 with elected vice-president Geraldo Alckmin and elected state governors to discuss the basic education agenda during their next administration. This meeting aims to strengthen collaboration between the federal government and the states to build educational quality. It also seeks to initiate the structure of a pact for learning recovery. It is a task that is especially necessary given the current scenario of basic education aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which public schools remained closed for almost two years.
At least 18 governors - elected or re-elected - from all regions of Brazil and different parties of the political spectrum have already confirmed their presence. In addition, state leaders will discuss public commitments to prioritize basic education in Brazil in the coming years.
The executive president of Todos pela Educação Priscila Cruz and the representative of UNESCO in Brazil Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto, will host the meeting. They will also present technical subsidies for the formulation of educational policies. The two organizations wish to encourage strengthening a common agenda for governors to accelerate results and tackle educational inequalities widened by the pandemic while sharing good experiences that states and municipalities have been developing across the country.
The re-elected governors who will be present are Eduardo Leite (PSDB-RS), João Azevedo (PSB-PB), Fátima Bezerra (PT-RN), Ibaneis Rocha (MDB-DF), Mauro Mendes (União Brasil-MT), Ratinho Jr. (PSD-PR), Renato Casagrande (PSB-ES), Romeu Zema (Novo-MG), Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil-GO), and Paulo Dantas (MDB-AL). Besides the governors who will take on their first terms, Clécio Luís (Solidariedade-AP), Eduardo Riedel (PSDB-MS), Elmano de Freitas (PT-CE), Fábio Mitidieri (PSD-SE), Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT-BA), Rafael Fonteles (PT-PI), and Raquel Lyra (PSD-PE). In addition, other authorities will send their representatives, such as vice governors and future secretaries of education. It is the case in the states such as Amazonas, Pará, Paraíba, Roraima and Tocantins.
Priscila Cruz points out that the meeting aims to strengthen collaboration between the states and the Union.
It will be a very rich moment for the elected governors to discuss between them and the future federal executive members the ways of re-establishing the federative pact that the current federal government neglected so much. It is a crucial moment for civil society to be on the side of future leaders, who have a unique challenge to guarantee quality basic education and reduce inequalities that, in Brazil, are marked by students' zip code, race and colour.Priscila Cruz
We are facing an unprecedented challenge. The pandemic has caused the closure of schools for a long period, accentuating the existing inequalities in the educational system and resulting in a serious learning crisis. UNESCO invites authorities, partner organizations and citizens to jointly advance strategies aimed at making the right to education a reality - an education that is inclusive, equitable and of quality for all, leaving no one behind.Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto
The meeting is closed to invitees. However, the press can follow it virtually from 4:45 p.m. (Brasilia time).
To access the Zoom link, confirm your interest by emailing [email protected] until 10:00 a.m. on 15 December 2022.
