“We’re stepping out of the darkness,” Lula tells university deans
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told deans and directors of federal universities and educational institutes that their gathering represented “civilization coming together.”
“We stand at the beginning of a new moment. I know the obscurantism we faced in the last four years, and I’d like to say that we’re stepping out of the darkness to return to the light of a new time,” he said at the opening of the meeting at the Planalto presidential palace Thursday (Jan. 19).
The government will strive to offer quality education, in line with the “new job world” and society’s needs, President Lula said. “Universities have to meet with business people, labor unions, and the government, so that we can figure out what we’re going to do to get people into the job market.”
“The climate issue, for instance, is vital for the survival of humanity. Is it part of the curriculum for university students and school kids? It’s not. We can’t teach people through prohibitions; we must teach with education. If people learn at the right age what the climate issue is and how much we need to stop pollution on the planet, we’re saved,” he declared.
Lula went on to pledge to guarantee the autonomy of universities in his mandate, with rectors appointed by the academic community, adding he will hold annual meetings to bring commitments into alignment.
Dialogue
Present at the meeting, Education Minister Camilo Santana said that the ministry will resume dialogue with all relevant actors and restore the prestige and respect for higher education in Brazil. Among the challenges, he mentioned increasing the offer, lowering dropout rates, the resumption of halted construction work, and the already authorized increase in scholarships.
The assembly was attended by representatives from 106 institutions. In the view of Ricardo Marcelo Fonseca, head of the National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (Andifes) and dean at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), this meeting, held in the first month of the new administration, bears a special significance.
“Deans and federal universities were mistreated, discredited, and had their budget severely constrained. We were targeted—what’s worse, we were deprived of our natural role of being at the service of Brazil, of national development projects,” Fonseca said.
He also stressed the importance of guaranteeing the conditions for the university to meet its purpose. “Our budget must be decent and adequate, just as our means to main our inner democratic system, our constitutionally instituted autonomy.”
