Education entities, students, parents and educators protested this Tuesday (25) against the case of armed police officers who invaded the Municipal School of Early Childhood Education (Emei) Antônio Bento, in São Paulo.
On November 12, military police, carrying weapons, entered the school after the father of a student called the corporation because his daughter drew a drawing of an orixá. The man is also a police officer.
Walking through the streets on a walk that started from the school unit, the group held up posters calling for an end to violence in the school environment and echoed messages such as “Where there is intolerance, let there be more education”, “More love and more books, less violence” and “School is not a place for the police”.
Among the coordinating organizations were the Union of Education Professionals in Municipal Education of São Paulo (Sinpeem) and the Union of Workers in Early Childhood Education Units (Sedin).
The event also included speeches for the expansion of anti-racist resistance networks in the country and the elimination of machismo within schools.
São Paulo (SP), 11/25/2025 – Act against armed police officers entering schools. Photo: Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
In an interview with Brazil AgencyGisele Nery, mother of one of the Emei Antônio Bento students, followed the entire development of the case.
A member of the school council and representative of the families in the class, she confirmed that, the day before the police arrived, the man tore up the drawing of Iansã made by her daughter during an activity with the class. “But before that he took his daughter away from him, so she wouldn’t see it,” he added.
The counselor said that the aggressive gesture generated discomfort and surprise for other children, like her daughter. “She came home and asked: I don’t understand, mom, why did he tear it up and yell at our teacher?”
According to Gisele Nery, the parents and professionals at the educational institution tried to establish a dialogue with the father and invited him to participate in the activity, to understand more about the topic, but he ignored the messages sent.
The counselor also reported that the police threatened to arrest the director, who is black. At that moment, the counselors, who were in a meeting, heard the discussion and came to the director’s defense.
“The police went to arrest her. But by then everyone had already seen the scene, the children saw it.”
University student Milena Leite, from the Pedagogy course, classifies the event as a “brutal” and unacceptable attack. “Not only within school education. This is very present outside of school, but within school”, he says.
“They come very brutally when talking about African gods. If they were Norse, Greek gods, Jesus Christ, there wouldn’t be such a problem.”
According to the Ministry of Racial Equality, the Orixás presentation activity is in line with laws nº 10,639, of 2003en nº 11.645, of 2008, which determine the teaching of African, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous history and culture in schools.
Understand the case
Four military police officers entered Emei Antônio Bento (Butantã), carrying weapons, after receiving a call from their father. The case occurred last Wednesday afternoon (12). The father reportedly said that his daughter was being forced to take an African religion class.
The day before, Tuesday (11), the child’s father had already gone to school to demonstrate his dissatisfaction with the class and removed the drawing of Iansã that his daughter had made from the mural.
The police officers remained at the school for more than an hour and left at around 5:10 pm along with the student’s father.
In a statement, director Aline Aparecida Nogueira informed that the school “does not work with religious doctrine” and that the “work is centered on the anti-racist curriculum”. She also said she was “coerced and questioned by the team for approximately 20 minutes”.
The São Paulo Public Security Secretariat reported that the “Military Police opened an investigation into the conduct of the team that responded to the incident, including the analysis of images from body cameras”. According to the agency, the teacher at the teaching unit filed a police report against the student’s father “due to threats”.
The Municipal Department of Education also commented on the case and wrote that “the father received clarification that the work presented by his daughter is part of the group’s collective production” and that the activity “is part of the school’s pedagogical proposals, which make the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous history and culture mandatory within the City of São Paulo Curriculum”.
