In Brazil, President Temer Wants Distance Education to Make up 40% of High School Curriculums

03/20/2018 - 15h14

The administration of Michel Temer (MDB) wants 40% of high school curriculums to be available online. Teenagers and adults enrolled in the EJA basic education program - which currently has 6.9 million students - would be able to access 100% of their curriculums online.

Adopted in 2017, a resolution that was devised in order to update the National Curricular Guidelines for Secondary Education is calling for the regulation of online education.

A document obtained by Folha detailing such regulations was recently discussed by the National Council of Education (CNE) for the first time. Proponents of the proposal who are on the committee say that the document aims to explore new possibilities on the education front.

However, some experts fear that the quality of the public education system, which contemplates 88% of all high school students in Brazil, could deteriorate even further.

When it comes to higher education, the combination of cuts in the Fies scholarship program and the fact that the number of distance education programs has skyrocketed has given rise to a tuition war between private universities.

Monthly rates have become so low that some institutions are charging a mere R$ 50 (approximately US$ 15). The number of online courses offered has more than doubled over the past year, reaching 2,774 in 2017, consultants say.

The federal government has announced an incentive program for full-time schools that will seek to increase the minimum daily load from 4 hours to 5 hours by 2022. A staff member at the Ministry of Education (MEC) said that this could be a good opportunity for implementing distance education initiatives.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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