The Brazilian Army, through the Department of Education and Culture (DECEX), vetoed the participation of College students Military at the National Olympiad in the History of Brazil (ONHB) 2019, linked to the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). The information is from CBN radio.
DECEX alleges that the issues of the first phase of the Olympiad, held between the 6th and 11th of May via the Internet, presented an ideological bias that conflicted with the Army's principles. However, the department did not cite any examples of the issue. Brasil Escola sought out the Army for further clarification, but did not receive a response until 4 pm today (14).
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ONBH's press office released a note stating that the content covered in the 1st phase aims to encourage the development of critical analysis and discussions on various topics. The note also informs that participation in the Olympics is optional and it is up to schools to decide whether or not to release students. See the full note:
"The coordination of the National Olympiad in the History of Brazil (ONHB) informs this Tuesday (05/14/2019) that it became aware of the statement from the Department of Education and Culture of the Army (DECEx), referring to the participation of students from the Brazilian Military College System (SCMB) in the 11th edition of the History Olympiad, through a CBN report aired yesterday 13/05/2019. SCMB teams have participated in the History Olympiad since the first edition, in 2009, with brilliance, having already obtained numerous medals.
We emphasize that the Olympiad's proposal for a consistent and in-depth study of the history of Brazil has helped to thousands of students in their school performance, in the National Secondary Education Examination (ENEM), in vestibular and contests.
Thus, the content covered in the 1st phase of the 11th edition follows the main objective of the project: to encourage the development of critical analysis and discussions on the most varied topics. To make this possible, we offer information, texts, images and maps in the tests and tasks to support the elaboration of the answers. The questions and activities are prepared based on the National Curriculum Guidelines, the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC) and the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs).
We emphasize, however, that participation or not in the History Olympiad is optional and that we have no interference in the pedagogical decisions of the participating schools.
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This year, 73 thousand students and teachers signed up for the competition, corresponding to 18,500 teams. Of this total, 16,600 groups went on to the second phase, which began this Monday (May 13, 2019).
ONHB 2019
THE National Olympiad in the History of Brazil brings together students and teachers from elementary school (8th and 9th grade) and high school from public and private schools. Participants form teams composed of three students and a teacher.
The teams must go through six stages online to reach the final in person, which is held on the Unicamp campus. Check out the regulation.
ideological war
Federal Deputy Tábata Amaral (PDT-SP) stated, on one of your social networks, that part of the Government is creating an ideological war on education. “We cannot let arbitrary reasons prevent students from all over the country from participating in competitions that encourage learning”, comments Tábata.
The Army vetoed the participation of students from military schools in the National History Olympiad, alleging that the exam does not follow the pedagogical proposal of its education system. This news saddens me a lot and enhances my concern with Brazilian education.
— Tabata Amaral (@tabataamaralsp) May 14, 2019
At the end of April, the current Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, stated that the National High School Examination (And either) 2019 will not have controversial and ideological issues. “Leftist ideology must not appear on the test,” said the minister in a video posted on President Jair Bolsonaro's Facebook page.
Recently, Weintraub reported blocking 30% of discretionary spending by federal universities, institutes and colleges, after claiming that some institutions stir up riot. In total, around R$ 2 billion were blocked. The minister also expressed his intention to cut resources from courses in Humanities, such as Philosophy and Sociology.
Abraham Weintraub is the second minister of education in the Bolsonaro government. Before him, the Colombian Ricardo Vélez was fired after a series of controversies, such as wanting to change the Military Dictatorship's version of history books.
