By Milena do Carmo, Project Coordinator at Promundo-Brasil
Giving in to pressure from the conservative base of the National Congress, the Ministry of Education is about to approve yet another setback related to the debate on gender equality in schools. At the beginning of April, the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” were removed from the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), a document that serves as a parameter for the elaboration of content in the classroom. The BNCC presented is aimed only at early childhood education and elementary education, with secondary education being excluded from this version. The document was officially delivered on April 6th to the National Education Council (CNE), the body responsible for the next steps in the process of establishing the base. After analysis, the CNE will prepare an opinion and a draft resolution and the BNCC will return to the MEC for approval. From this process onwards, it officially comes into force.
In addition to the suppression of terms, there was also the suppression of a rule that guaranteed the use of bathrooms, changing rooms and other spaces not segregated by gender, when available, according to each person's gender identity, published in March 2015 by the National Council of Combating Discrimination and Promotion of the Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals (CNCD/LGBT), a body currently linked to the Human Rights Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.
Not coincidentally, we are the country with the highest murder rate of LGBTI people in the world, with one death every 26 hours.
In the last three years, a series of actions have been taking place: the word “gender” has been removed from Municipal and State Education Plans; the Escola Sem Partido Project continues to threaten individual freedoms, academic freedoms and freedoms of expression; and there is even an “inspection” in classes in the São Paulo municipal network by councilors who want to ensure that “gender ideology” is not propagated – a title wrongly attributed to the debate related to respect for diversity and the promotion of equity.
The exclusion of the terms contradicts the 2015 recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, a monitoring body for children's rights around the world, which guides the creation of legislation that prohibits discrimination and incitement of violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which, in practice, allows the 'Schools without Homophobia' project to continue.
Complaints were made to the United Nations and to different human rights protection mechanisms around the world, so that the seriousness of the country's situation in relation to the extinction of rights is recognized.
In response to these facts and because it believes in the involvement of young people in strategies for gender equality, Promundo has been working since September 2016, with students and education professionals through the Youth for the End of Violence Project. So far there have been eight schools from the municipal network and one from the state network, with the participation of young people between 13 and 19 years old, adults who participate in PEJA (Youth and Adult Education) and education professionals.
Through groups held in schools, topics related to gender, race and ethnicity, relationships, non-violent communication and diversity are discussed. The project methodology was developed in partnership with the Municipal Department of Education and consists of five issues.
In the 2017 cycle, the Project grew. Both in the schools where it continued and in the new schools chosen for the new cycle, the number of classes served increased, as well as the involvement of school management and the voluntary participation of professionals.
In addition to the groups, at the end of each semester a community campaign is created at the school, based on themes discussed in workshops with young people and professionals. It is the moment of culmination of the Project and of bringing to the school community what the school developed throughout the semester. In December 2016, a version of the Shameless Campaign was presented, on sexual rights and reproductive health. For 2017, each School will work with the theme that is most closely related to its objectives for the year.
In the first cycle of 2016, 146 young people participated, 71 boys, 66 girls and 38 education professionals, involving school communities in Água Santa, Bangu, Centro, Riachuelo, Santa Teresa and Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro.
Based on the impact assessment carried out by Promundo, improvements were observed in issues related to the denaturalization of gender and racial violence, pointing to a greater number of reported and perceived aggressions; as well as greater knowledge of the mechanisms of Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents and the need to divide care tasks between men and women. Through the impact assessment, it was also possible to perceive the need for a more gender-sensitive approach to prevent the use of social networks as a mechanism for carrying out control and psychological violence and to encourage the use of contraceptive and STI prevention methods.
The project is at the end of the second cycle. After the experience, the methodology used in the project will be published, in order to share the lessons learned and systematize the activities tested so that educators can promote the prevention of gender and racial violence among students in schools.
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