Since August, Brazil has suffered more than one attack in schools every month. In eight months, there were nine attacks of extreme violence, with seven deaths, the most recent being the one that took place this Monday (27) at the state school Thomazia Montoro, in Vila Sônia, São Paulo, in which a 13-year-old student stabbed a teacher to death and injured three other teachers, as well as two students.
The survey, carried out by a group that brings together researchers from Unicamp and Unesp, accounts for 22 attacks in Brazilian schools since 2002, with a total of 36 deaths. This means that, in 20 years, from 2002 to July 2022, there were 13 attacks, an average, therefore, just over one attack every two years. The average that was biennial became monthly from August 2022, an explosion of violence.
The aggravation is, in part, related to the pandemic and the prolonged closure of schools, which reached two years in some regions of the country, in the evaluation of Telma Vinha, a Doctor in Education from Unicamp and professor at the university, who coordinates the research, in partnership with researcher and lawyer Cleo Garcia.
"The pandemic has increased psychic illness", emphasizes Vinha, who coordinates two groups that study school conflicts, the Group of Studies, Ethics, Diversity and Democracy in Public Schools, from the Institute of Advanced Studies at Unicamp, and Gepem (Group of Studies and Research in Moral Education), from Unicamp and Unesp. "Financial insecurity impacted this illness, as well as family conflicts and the teenagers' lack of perspective on life", she says. "It is also necessary to consider the relationship difficulties caused by isolation, the increase in online time, and, consequently, the greater interaction with extremist groups."
The survey considers only attacks of extreme violence, that is, in which there were attempts to commit crimes against life, and which were planned; therefore, fights that arise in the school environment, even the most violent ones, are excluded.
Translated by Cassy Dias