After two massacres in Brazilian schools within a short period, the government decided to debate the topic and develop solutions. On Thursday (06/04), Education Minister Camilo Santana informed that the federal government will hold weekly meetings to discuss the fight against violence in schools and will present a proposal within 90 days.
Interministerial Group and a National Policy
Among the first actions taken to respond to this growing problem is the creation of an interministerial group to debate the topic and find solutions. The group will be formed by the following ministries: Education, Human-Rights, Justice, and the Presidency General Secretariat. The first meeting of this group was held on Thursday (06/04).
Within 90 days, the interministerial group will present a report to support a national policy to fight violence in schools. Another proposal mentioned by Santana is the implementation of a protocol in public and private schools for reacting to attack threats.
“Deradicalization” and the Internet
According to Santana, the Human Rights Ministry is expected to adopt measures for what it called “deradicalization”, that is, according to the minister, combating hate speech and intolerance among students.
The Minister of Education announced that, in addition to “more urgent” actions, such as strengthening security in school areas, measures to combat the stimulation of violence on the internet will be adopted. For him, there has been “incitement to hatred” in internet forums.
Hotline, Resources and Other Measures
The government is considering creating a specific hotline to receive complaints of violence in schools. According to the minister, the channel can function like the “180”, a service for denouncing assaults on women.
On Wednesday (05/04), federal authorities announced the emergency transfer of R$ 150 million from the National Public Security Fund (FNSP) to reinforce the school patrols carried out by state police and municipal guards.
Justice and Public Security Minister Flávio Dino stated that extra 40 police officer will be dedicated to monitor online threats of attacks on schools. Currently, there is a team of 10 police officers who carry out this duty.
Dino also said that the possibility of deploying armed security guards in educational establishments will be discussed by the inter-ministerial group.
According to the ministers, the following actions are also being evaluated by the group:
- Strengthening of the School Health Program
- Campaign to discourage acts of violence
- Training school staff to mediate conflicts
- Creation of a protocol to avoid cases of violence
- Strengthen school rounds with federal resources
- Intelligence work on social networks to investigate groups that encourage intolerance
- Regulation of digital platforms in Brazil
- Strengthening of the psychosocial policy to enable the treatment of students with mental disorders
- Integral teaching plan
