Where will the federal education institutes that should be built in SP be located?

The Ministry of Education (MEC) has not yet made the official announcement, but President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) anticipated it during three speeches he gave on Friday, 2, where at least six of the 12 new federal education institutes will be located. that the government intends to build in the State of São Paulo: Jardim Ângela (southern zone of the capital), Cidade Tiradentes (eastern zone of the capital), Santos, São Vicente (both on the coast), Diadema and Mauá (ABC region).

The construction of federal institutes is on the list of investments in the federal government's new Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). Federal institutes are focused on professional, scientific and technological education. Each unit is made up of a campus network and a single institute may be responsible for the administration of several teaching units.

The announcement of the construction of new federal institutes comes amid criticism of the Lula administration regarding the transfer of resources to existing federal teaching units. In an interview with Estadão, Raiane Assumpção, dean of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), for example, complained about the lack of funding. “We have this open space for dialogue. However, the budget for the operation of universities, for works and for student stay is far below what is our minimum existence as a university,” she said.

The Federal University of Alagoas (Ufal) complains that today it has a budget comparable to that received in 2009. The National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes), which brings together all 69 federal universities and two federal education centers technology, even released a public note to “express his indignation with the budget”. The complaint is that the Budget Law approved by the National Congress provides for a lower budget for federal universities for 2024 than that for 2023.

'Economic growth and technological development'

On Friday, during an event in the Port of Santos, where he announced that the city and neighboring São Vicente will receive new federal education institutes, Lula defended that the units should be related to the region. “It is important to remember that these institutes need to be used to train young people, to develop the local economy. What is the suitability of the city of Santos? These young people have to study courses that can serve to improve the economic growth and technological development of the city in which the institute is created,” she said.

Also on Friday, Lula went to São Bernardo do Campo, in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, and stated that Diadema and Mauá will also host institutes.

At the end of the day, during a PT event in the capital, the president revealed his intention to build units in Jardim Ângela and Cidade Tiradentes. “We want to create federal institutes not for people to do a doctorate. We want people to learn a good profession, especially this issue of software, which is an important thing to train people for the job market”, he said.

When consulted by the report, the Ministry of Education did not confirm where each institute will be located. “The expectation is that the president will soon make the announcement in greater detail,” said the ministry.