Brazilian Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, addressed the Chamber of Deputies regarding recent changes in EAD (distance learning) course offerings and delays in releasing Saeb (Basic Education Assessment System) literacy data.
President Lula da Silva recently signed a decree establishing a new distance learning policy. This policy prohibits online courses for medicine, law, nursing, dentistry, and psychology, mandating these be offered exclusively in person due to the necessity of practical activities and lab work.
Other health-related courses and teaching degrees must also be offered in person or in a blended format. A two-year transition period is planned to allow institutions to adapt and protect the rights of current students.
Deputy Adriana Ventura requested the hearing to discuss the impact of these measures on students and institutions. She also sought clarification on the Ministry's plans to ensure legal certainty and predictability in the education sector.
In April, the Ministry of Education released Saeb data for the 2nd year of elementary school, revealing a 49.3% literacy rate in 2023. This figure is lower than the 56% reported by the 'Literate Child' program, which used a different methodology.
The Saeb assessment, implemented in the 2nd year of elementary school since 2019, showed that Brazil has not yet recovered pre-pandemic literacy levels. In 2019, the literacy rate was 55%, dropping to 36% in 2021 during the pandemic, and rising to 49.3% in 2023.