Books back on the table for São Paulo students

Governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, arriving at an event. Photo: Marcelo S. Camargo / Governo do Estado de SP

After much criticism and legal questioning, the São Paulo state government has backtracked on one of the most controversial decisions of the year and will continue to use physical textbooks in public schools. The Tarcísio de Freitas administration asked the Education Ministry to reinstate São Paulo in the National Didactic Book Program, which finances purchases of books for states and municipalities.

However, this change of heart only occurred on the same day a São Paulo court issued an injunction forcing the government to rejoin the program. “The sudden annulment of [the state’s] participation in the program is, in theory, capable of causing severe adverse effects on students’ education and for the state treasury,” reads an excerpt from the injunction.

The state prosecution and public defender’s offices had also requested an injunction to force the government to continue participating in the book program. The state education secretariat said it changed its position after “dialogue with society,” and minimized the lawsuits.

São Paulo’s education department also decided to cancel the purchase of BRL 15.2 million (USD 3 million) worth of digital books without a tender. The original idea was to buy 200 million licenses for students to use digital literature books.

Earlier this month, São Paulo Education Secretary Renato Feder announced that starting next year, students in the sixth grade and above would only have access to digital teaching materials. The state prosecution service is investigating him for being a shareholder in Multilaser, a company that sold laptops to schools in São Paulo.

The agreement, worth BRL 200 million, was made before Mr. Feder entered the government. But he is responsible for overseeing the performance of the contract, and he did not apply any penalties for delays in delivering the equipment. And Multilaser also signed other contracts with the state health and science departments this year, when Mr. Feder was already in office.

Despite the possible conflict of interest, Governor Freitas defended his secretary, saying he does not see a problem with the decisions and that he will not replace him.