The federal government announced this Saturday (18) a new notice for the National Network of Popular Courses (CPOP), which should be launched in December, covering up to 500 projects, with an investment of R$108 million. The announcement was made in São Bernardo do Campo (SP), with the participation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Established by Decree 12,410/2025CPOP, according to the government, is technical and financial support for the preparation of public school students in situations of social vulnerability, who seek to enter higher education through the National High School Examination.
In the first notice, the CPOP program selected 384 popular courses that prepare students for the university entrance exam. The measure covered more than 12,100 students in all regions of the country, with a total investment of R$74 million. Each course covered received up to R$163.2 thousand to pay teachers, coordinators and technical-administrative staff, in addition to a permanence allowance of R$200 per month for up to 40 students per unit.
The Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, highlighted the expectation that the number will reach 700 selected courses by the end of this administration. Santana recognized that the network of initiatives with this purpose was already alive long before the government investment and that the success to be celebrated lies precisely in the support now given by the public authorities.
Santana added that the plan, with the establishment of the network of courses, is to make this support a public policy. In his speech, the minister also cited the accumulation of programs designed by Lula’s three administrations in the area of education, such as the University for All Program (Prouni), the Unified Selection System (Sisu), the National Secondary Education Examination (Enem) and the Higher Education Student Financing Fund (Fies). Two other sets of measures highlighted were those aimed at literacy and full-time education in schools, as well as Pé-de-Meia, which, according to him, has brought good results, curbing school dropout rates, reducing it by half.
All these actions, he added, served to “give the university the opportunity to have the face of Brazil”, by leveling the conditions of people from the most vulnerable social classes in relation to those offered to the middle class and the rich, leaving them less unequal.
Santana also said that education is the only transformative path for society and defended the appreciation of educators. “Teacher has to be the most valued profession, because everyone goes through the teacher. The doctor goes through him, the engineer”, he stated, whose speech also highlighted the promotion of equity and inclusion as elements that guide the current government, something that can even be seen through the creation of the Federal Indigenous University (Unind), with headquarters in Brasilia .
Also in the government delegation, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, who previously held the Education portfolio, considered that, previously, those who completed primary and secondary education at a private institution ended up at public universities. And the opposite was the case: graduates from public schools were only able to secure a place at private universities and had enormous difficulty staying there, as they were unable to cover regular expenses for food, transportation, among other things.
Prouni, he pointed out, was structured to see minority groups, such as the black population, represented as students and teachers.
Haddad said that one of the findings from his time as Minister of Education was that the government should touch the pockets of the richest part of the population to ensure the implementation of the project of better education for the country. He stated that he knows that this “is what bothers” this group, which has mobilized a campaign against the increase in its contribution through taxes.
Haddad recalled that, from 2006 to 2010, society was massively opposed to the reservation in universities of students who completed basic education in the public network, a situation that has changed in recent years. The quotas for this category cover half of the places offered by the institutions.
“This is equivalent to carrying out an entire agrarian reform in Brazilian higher education. You have to divide it fairly. The private school student couldn’t complain that he would get less, because reserving half wasn’t taking anything from anyone, it was distributing it more fairly”, he said.
“In addition to reserving places for public school students, we decided to divide these places between whites and blacks in proportion to each Brazilian state. In Bahia, it is one proportion. In Santa Catarina, it is another proportion. But black people would, yes, enter a public university. In the past, we only saw black people working as school employees, rarely as teachers, rarely as students”, added Haddad.
“Today you enter a public university and see that it has changed color. It is more Brazilian, it is more authentic, it is more representative. And it is more intelligent. Because, contrary to what our critics said, the quality of the public school has improved, with the participation of the working class in the university
