The Education Commission (EC) approved, on Tuesday (9), a bill that creates a week to promote education for integrity in public and private basic education schools, to be held in October.
O PL 4.507/2021, by Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE), received a favorable report from Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES) and had a report read by Senator Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS). The rapporteur presented only two drafting amendments. The matter, analyzed definitively, goes to the Chamber of Deputies, unless appealed for analysis in Plenary.
The text amends the Anti-Corruption Law (12,846 lei, from 2013) and is justified, according to the author, by preparing students to exercise citizenship through the formation of a culture of integrity.
According to Alessandro, the week will be aligned with the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), in the development of the general competence Responsibility and Citizenship, which permeates all basic education. It will mainly serve the objectives of promoting ethical training for students and preventing corruption, encouraging the reporting of these acts.
The text designates the Union, in collaboration with other entities and non-profit entities, to train teachers and produce teaching materials suitable for the implementation of the training week. It also establishes an evaluation, every two years, of this activity by the Executive Branch, in order to measure the impact on the development of a culture of integrity among students.
For the rapporteur, the proposition is relevant in helping to form individuals with a critical sense and participation, and also with the ability to intervene in social processes that go against ethical principles and the common good.
Malta highlighted that the country occupies position 94, with 38 points out of a possible 100, in the internal honesty perception index promoted by Transparency International, with data from around 200 countries. This perception places the country as having an average corruption perception index in the world, but very high among the most developed ones, assessed the rapporteur, for whom the position puts Brazil in a more difficult situation than its neighbors in South America, with a similar level of development, such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
“In this context, the proposition corroborates the concerns underlying the purposes of Brazilian education, and present in Brazilian legislation, of forming an individual, with a critical sense and participation, with the instrumental capacity to intervene in social processes that undermine the common good, the ethical principles and democratic values in general”, said the senator.
President of the EC, senator Flávio Arns (PSB-PR), said that this will be “a week of promoting education for integrity, for honesty, for values that are important”.
— Basic education forms citizens who will be very productive for the country — said Senator Astronauta Marcos Pontes (PL-SP).
Agência Senado (Reproduction authorized upon citation from Agência Senado)