With the launch of the National Learning Recovery Policy just a few days away, Education Minister Victor Godoy Veiga, who took office three weeks ago, stated on Tuesday (the 10th) that the main challenge to be addressed is the education gap.

“Our main challenges are catching up on learning. We have a deficit not only due to the pandemic, but also because of the shortcomings of the Brazilian educational system itself,” he said.

The minister noted that there is still “the enormous challenge of bringing back [to school] the children who have dropped out.” He also pointed out that innovation and technology must be brought into schools.

The remarks were made during the opening of Bett Educar, Latin America’s largest education conference, which—after two years of being held online due to the pandemic—returned as an in-person event. The conference runs all week, featuring lectures and workshops focused on education and innovations in the field.

In his remarks, Victor Godoy said that the National Policy for Learning Recovery, to be launched this month, is based on three pillars: learning recovery, combating school dropout rates, and promoting innovation and technology.

The minister said that the first pillar of this recovery effort is assessment, re-engaging students, and rebuilding their learning. The second pillar is combating school dropout rates, with the goal of bringing back students who have already left school. The third pillar is innovation and connectivity within the Brazilian education system.

In his remarks, the minister expressed very positive expectations for this year's Enem, which, according to him, will follow the same format as before.

“We’re already thinking about the Enem of the future—one that’s aligned with the new high school curriculum. But this Enem is still being developed; we’re confident that everything will go very smoothly and be a great success.”

As for the test item bank, Godoy said it is already underway. “We already have one in progress—the standardization of the item bank—and we have enough items to administer this year’s test. It’s a project to update the bank, which went many years without the Inep [Anísio Teixeira National Institute for Educational Studies and Research] carrying out this update,” he said.