President Jair Bolsonaro
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- Ministry of Education officials said Their superiors forced them to change the exam questions, which exposed them to “unbearable pressure” and “harassment.”
- The exam is taken by the students at the end of high school.
- Officials said they were instructed to delete issues related to the country’s recent history.
President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday ignored allegations that his government was reviewing Brazil’s high school graduation exams, saying he was proud that the exams were now “similar to the current government.”
The far-right president has long criticized what he believes is the left-wing bias in the National Secondary Education Examination (ENEM), which is a standardized test taken by Brazilian students at the end of high school and plays a key role in obtaining university admissions.
The quarrel broke out last week when 37 Ministry of Education officials resigned from the exams originally scheduled for November 21-28.
Some people who did not want to be named said in a television interview on Sunday that their superiors forced them to change the test questions, which put them under “unbearable pressure” and “harassment.”
One person said that their boss requested that more than 20 questions be removed from the 180-question test, which are mainly multiple-choice questions in mathematics, science, history, language and other subjects.
The former official told Global Television: “These questions are mainly about the country’s recent history,” he said that two new versions of the test must be drafted.
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Bolsonaro frequently attacked the political and cultural prejudices perceived in ENEM, and education experts refused to accept the accusations.
Soon after winning the 2018 presidential election, he lashed out at a question about LGBT history, saying: “Don’t worry, there won’t be such a problem again next year.”
In January last year, he criticized the huge wage gap between Brazil’s men’s and women’s football stars, Neymar and Marta.
He said:
There are also some ridiculous questions, comparing a woman playing football with a man. There is no comparison. Women’s football is still not a reality in Brazil.
The best scorer in the history of World Cup matches (men’s and women’s), Marta has been named the world’s best player six times.
Bolsonaro played down the recent controversy during his trip to Dubai, saying that he thinks changing the exam is an achievement.
“The questions about ENEM are starting to resemble this government,” he said.
This comment caused strong protests in Brazil, leading opposition lawmakers to announce that they would order the Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, to attend Congress to answer allegations of government review of the examination.
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