The court temporarily suspended the rules of civic-military schools in the state of São Paulo, on the grounds that there is evidence of violation of the principle of legality, an offense against the principle of democratic management of education and discriminatory potential.
“In view of evidence of violation of the principle of legality, offense to the principle of democratic management of education and the discriminatory potential of the project, I grant the urgent relief requested to determine that the State of São Paulo suspend, within 48 hours, the application of the document ‘Civico-Military School Program of the State of São Paulo’ and its annexes (Student Conduct and Attitude Guide, Uniform Use Guide and Citizen Values Project Guide) in schools civic-military”, says the text of the decision by judge Paula Narimatu de Almeida, of the 13th Public Finance Court of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo.
The Court’s decision was prompted by a public civil action, filed by the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo and the Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo. According to the action, the rules give military monitors powers beyond those provided for by law.
Discrimination
In the decision, the judge highlighted that school rules are particularly serious and potentially discriminatory against students from minority groups. The judge cites as an example the prohibition of specific braids or haircuts that are not “discreet”.
“Rules regarding hair and appearance can disproportionately impact LGBTQIAPN+ students, whose expressions of gender identity may not conform to the binary standards established in the regulations. This clearly violates the constitutional principle of non-discrimination”, he says.
The judge also highlighted “the absence, at least at a glance, of consultation with specialists, such as pedagogues, educational psychologists and child development technicians, in contradiction to the CF [Constituição Federal] and the LDB [Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional]”.
According to the judge, the School Council is exclusively responsible for preparing the school regulations, “this being a non-delegable prerogative of the school community”.
“Thus, there is legal plausibility in the allegation that the regulations drawn up unilaterally by the Department of Education, without the participation of the School Councils, violate the democratic management of education and usurp legally established competence”.
In the sentence, the judge emphasized that the decision does not prevent the continuity of the activities of military monitors in support of other programs, such as Conviva, Ronda Escolar, Programa Firefighter na Escola and Programa Educacional de Resistência à Drogas e à Violência (PROERD).
Government of São Paulo
In a note, the state Department of Education said that all pedagogical content in state schools, including in civic-military units, is prepared and applied exclusively by teachers, “military monitors are not responsible for any pedagogical role”.
“The implementation was carried out through public consultations with broad participation from school communities”, says the secretariat.
