Thousands of students in Sao Paulo, Brazil, rallied on April 19 for increased safety in schools after recent attacks across the country.

The protests came after a man killed four children at a daycare centre in Santa Catarina. Three other incidents had occurred before that in 2023.

Brazil's government has since announced efforts to spend more on schools and crack down on violence.

BRAZIL – Students rally for safety in schools after attacks

This Wednesday, student organizations are expected to carry out a series of acts for the repeal of the High School reform that reduced the number of compulsory subjects and gave up quality in public schools.
In addition to the immediate repeal of the High School reform, students also demand more investment in education, reform in schools and ETECs, for the end of vacant classes and for peace and security in schools. In São Paulo, the event will take place on Avenida Paulista, starting at 8 am.

In a plenary session last Saturday (16) the Municipal Union of Secondary Students of São Paulo (UMES SP) approved the document “For the revocation of the 'New Secondary School' – For an Education at the service of Brazil and the Brazilian people”, an analysis on the impacts of neoliberal reform on the quality of public schools.

The document points out the fundamental points of why it is necessary to revoke the reform, implemented in the governments of Temer and Bolsonaro. “For an Education at the service of Brazil and the Brazilian people [...], The reform of secondary education aims to deepen educational inequalities to maintain social inequalities. In it, youth has no time, no freedom. Young people distance themselves from their dreams of entering a university, having a decent job and leaving the violence and poor living conditions that they find themselves in”, says UMES.

SOT 00:32:00 –– Mariana – demonstrator: we know very well that nowadays and always, violence does not arise from a vacuum, violence in schools also comes from the growth of a wave of the extreme right in recent years here in the Brazil, then, this growth of fascist ideals and this openness that these people have to have their opinions (in quotation marks) and to express these opinions, is very much linked to the wave of violence in schools.

SOT 02:31:00 –– Kiara – demonstrator: today this advance of this violence is the advance of fascism in our country that was defeated at the polls but not in the streets, so we need to move and put ourselves in the streets to move with the youth who will fight against fascism and for safe schools for our students.