Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tried to change Brazil’s history referring to the military dictatorship in the national high school exam. Several employees also resigned days before the test denouncing censorship attempts.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, the president of Brazil asked his minister of Education that Enem changes the wording referring to the 1964 military coup into the term “Revolution“.
Enem is the national high school exam evaluating students. It can be used as an enrollment test for higher education and as a certification of a high school degree. The exam usually starts in November and takes place on November 21 and 28 in 2021.
Jair Bolsonaro wanted the “Coup of 64“, led by Brazil’s military forces establishing a military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, to be replaced by the word “Revolution“.
Calling the Coup d’état a Revolution would enforce the far-right version of history. According to Brazil’s largest newspaper, the request was made during the first half of 2021.
Enem exam will be closer to the vision of the government
The minister of Education also unsuccessfully tried to include 22 teachers, and government supporters, in the elaboration of this year’s exam, Estadão reported.
Moreover, in early November, 37 employees resigned from their positions in the National institute of educational studies and research. The ministry of Education agency is in charge of evaluating the quality of the education system and the elaboration of Enem.
They denounced the “technical and administrative fragility of the current top management“, censorship when a board director asked to remove 20 questions from the test, as well as intimidation attempts because of the unusual presence of a federal police officer.
President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the least popular leaders in their own countries, reacted to the resignations over censorship claims. He considered that what was spent on only few people was “absurd and inadimissible“.
He also commented that the Enem test would start to “look more like the government. Nobody is concerned by those absurd issues from the past. It’s really about learning.”
