A potential future government of Ronaldo Caiado (PSD), a presidential candidate in the 2026 elections, would bet on expanding civic-military schools and full-time schools to improve the quality of basic education in Brazil.
This is what Fátima Gavioli states, having represented the campaign during her participation in the program Educação em Debate, an initiative by Folha in partnership with the Lemann Foundation, Instituto Natura, the Nova Foundation, and the Associação Bem Comum. The TV Folha interview program explores the education proposals of the main presidential candidates in this year's election.
She defended the results achieved by both models in Goiás, the state where she served as Secretary of Education during the Caiado government, between 2019 and 2026.
"The proficiency results of civic-military schools are very good. They are not better than full-time schools, but they are also very good," said Fátima, without presenting indicators for either of the two models.
Goiás was a pioneer in the militarization of schools as far back as the late 1990s and is today the fourth state with the most units of this type. There are 105 such schools in the state network and in Goiás municipalities.
"It is a model with absolute success in terms of demand for places in Goiás. What attracts parents so much? It is discipline. Parents seek it out because they know that discipline exists there, which they themselves are often unable to impose at home."
Gavioli says that the Caiado candidacy has not set targets for the expansion of these schools. However, she defended the implementation format used in Goiás: requiring that reserve military personnel have an education background and prioritizing vulnerable areas with high crime rates.
The priority of a potential Caiado government, however, would be the expansion of full-time schools linked to vocational education for high school students. "There is only one way to effectively bring full-time schooling to vulnerable areas: by linking it to vocational education."
"A father who is struggling at home does not want his children to spend the whole day at school. He needs them to work or help with household tasks so others can seek paid employment. But if the school offers, in addition to traditional content, a vocational course, the family sees it differently," she argues. "The family envisions that young person soon being able to get a job that will pay them better."
Gavioli, who is a candidate for federal deputy for Goiás, also advocated changes to the Pé-de-Meia program, created by the Lula (PT) government. The Caiado campaign proposes universalizing the benefit for all high school students — currently, only those from families registered in CadÚnico receive the grant, meaning those with an income of up to half a minimum wage per person.
In addition to extending the benefit to everyone, she also envisions that the grant amounts would differ for those enrolled in full-time versus part-time schooling. She further recommends that payment of the grant be tied to academic performance, not merely attendance, as is currently the case. "You will only receive it if you score a 6 and have at least 75% attendance. Didn't meet that? The payment is blocked."
He also proposes that the federal government track students' spending of the benefit, as is currently done in Goiás. "We need to know what they are spending it on, whether it's at a grocery store, a snack bar, on clothing... This prevents them from using the money to spend on betting sites, for example."
Gavioli also spoke about proposals for valuing teachers, such as maintaining salary floor adjustments above inflation and establishing a national career plan. He also said he supports reducing the number of school days per year from 200 to 180.
"The countries with the best results in PISA have fewer school days than Brazil. Requiring so many school days has not brought improvements in education, but has increased illness and workload among teachers."
