|
 The week of October 9 to 15 should have been called the "Week of the Future." On October 12 we commemorated the Day of the Child and on October 15, the Day of the Teacher. These two days are interconnected and linked to the future, and they have in common their abandonment by the federal government. The teacher and the child are the pillars of the future. But in Brazilian public life they have never been a priority.
The Brazilian nation abandoned its children and its teachers to the care of the states and the municipalities. The destiny of the Brazilian child depends upon luck - the city in which the child happens to be born and whoever happens to be the mayor the year in which the child enters school.
The municipalities are unequal and do not have the resources necessary to guarantee good education to their children. There are cities with an annual per capita income of almost 20,000 reais (US$ 9,000), and others with one of 600 reais (US$ 265).
As long as K-12 education is a municipal responsibility, it will be impossible to guarantee the same quality of education to all Brazilian children.
Since the Day of the Child is national, why then is the education children receive municipal? Brazilian children need an education that is Brazilian, national, federal, and not only municipal. The unification of K-12 education, its nationalization, is a condition for the educational revolution that Brazil needs. And that revolution begins with the teacher.
Education depends upon the teaching profession. And the teacher is the head, the heart and the pocketbook, the Holy Trinity of education. If the teacher is not well trained and dedicated, good education is nonexistent.
Without good remuneration, there will be no dedication or training. Today, the municipality is responsible for the selection and remuneration of the teacher - the person who cares for our children and, therefore, for Brazil's future.
If we want a national education, therefore, we need to nationalize the teacher. In many countries, the primary and secondary teachers are employees remunerated by the federal government. That, however, would be too great a step for Brazil to take.
Nationalizing the teacher's salary would at least be an advance. This would mean adopting a national salary floor - not a unified salary, although this may happen in the universities and technical schools.
This is the case, for example, in the Federal District (DF). There, the teacher's salary (on average 1,475 reais (US$ 653) per month) is paid by the federal government. And the DF government complements - or at least it used to do so when I was governor - this salary with its own resources.
Meanwhile, the teacher-salary floor must be linked to unified criteria of selection. The teacher would continue to be employed by his or her municipality but would pass through a federal selection process, after which the federal government would pay the teacher's salary, and the municipalities would continue paying their part.
My proposal is that the federal government double the average salary - from 530 reais (US$ 235) to 1,000 reais (US$ 443) - of the municipal and state teachers who have passed a federal competitive exam.
Or that it begin with first through fourth grade teachers, as the Ministry of Education Certification Program anticipated in 2003. Or that it choose, at first, those who earn up to 250 reais (US$ 111). Whichever method is selected, head, heart and pocketbook, together, will change the present reality.
Today, even while viewing the future sadly, we can still commemorate these dates hopefully. The days of October 12th and 15th are still not dates equal to May 13th, the date of the Abolition of Slavery, because in spite of remaining incomplete, at least Abolition was proclaimed. But we still have not proclaimed the liberation of the children and the teachers.
Brazil still has time to save its future. The future that belongs to the children, the future constructed by the teachers. We have the resources to do it. We are conscious of the need. We must wake up.
Cristovam Buarque has a Ph.D. in economics. He is a PT senator for the Federal District and was Governor of the Federal District (1995-98) and Minister of Education (2003-04). You can visit his homepage - www.cristovam.com.br - and write to him at cristovam@senador.gov.br.
Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome - LinJerome@cs.com.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
