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

On Tuesday, the minister attended the opening of Bett Educar, Latin America’s largest education conference, which—after two years of being held online due to the pandemic—is returning 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, Minister 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, and encouraging innovation and technology.

The minister said that the first pillar of this recovery effort is assessment, re-engagement of students, and academic recovery. The second pillar is combating school dropout rates, with the goal of re-enrolling students who have already left school. “And we’ve already implemented concrete initiatives in this regard, such as the ‘Dial 100’ hotline [to report children not attending school], so that the child protection council and state and municipal support networks can track down those students and bring them back to school.”

The minister announced another measure to prevent school dropouts: an app that helps predict dropout rates. “We are also working from a predictive perspective, with an app currently under development, to alert school principals to students who are at higher risk of dropping out.”

The third pillar of this policy, according to the minister, is innovation and connectivity within the Brazilian education system.

The Minister of Education expressed very positive expectations for this year’sEnem, which, according to him, follows the same format as the previous one. “We’re already thinking about the Enem of the future—one that’s aligned with the new high school curriculum. But this year’s Enem is currently being prepared, and we’re confident that everything will go very smoothly and successfully.”

As for the test item bank, Minister Victor Godoy said that work is already underway. “We already have a project underway—the standardization of the item bank—and we have enough items to administer this year’s test. This is an effort to update the bank, which went many years without the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep) carrying out this update,” he said.