“We want RN to be the state of education, science and technology” – 11/17/2021 – Notícia

Claudio Oliveira

Reporter

The government of Rio Grande do Norte is aware of the challenge it will have to face in order to make up for the losses in education with the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has kept education anomalies for a year and a half. Damages are still being calculated, with an estimate taking 5 to 8 years to fix the overlap in teaching and learning. Classes gradually returned, and only as population vaccination progressed and the number of hospitalizations, cases, transmission rates, and deaths decreased, was a 100% return allowed. Considering education as a fundamental basis in the formation of citizens, the Minister of State for the Ministry, Getulio Marquez, says that this moment of recovery is favorable for the system to take a turn, modernize itself and introduce new teaching techniques. One of the paths he referred to is the combination of teaching and professionalism. In this sense, he says that the state is already implementing vocational training in schools and by 2023 they will all have secondary education in the form of qualification and vocational training in accordance with the profession of each region. “The future of education and science in the post-pandemic era” is the theme of the 39th edition of the symposium “Drivers of Development in Rio Grande do Norte, which will be held next Monday, November 22, at the Barreira Roxa Hotel, in Natal. .

In the process of economic recovery, should education also be considered essential?

Education is the engine and basis for development and improves wages. As wages improve, it increases consumption, which helps increase production, job creation and tax revenue. We are working to advance and refute what research suggests, an 8-10 year period, which is the global average, to restore the teaching and learning process. This loss (due to the epidemic) is not only visible in the educational process, it is what drives everything. Since education is the basis of everything, there will be shortage of qualified labour, for example.

Is one of the projects of this progress the “Nova Escola Potiguar”?

The Nova Escola Potiguar project will transform and improve the economy. This project, regardless of the epidemic, was already included in the government program of Governor Fatma Bizera, with the aim of expanding vocational education, with at least two vocational education institutions in each Dired (Regional Directorate of Education). We are implementing 12 institutes with an investment of 96 million Brazilian riyals. It’s another way to try to beat the pandemic period, joining Federai Institutes and ten new schools. This is an investment in training.

Is the focus on vocational training to better train students?

Bring my reference from the Federal Institute, to get the form from there and transfer it here. From 2022, all schools will already have the new Common National Curriculum rule in place. Students enter high school in four fields: social sciences, arts and languages, exact and natural sciences, and mathematics. The National Common Base has itinerary 5 with professional technical qualifications. In our case here in the state, all schools will have a technical track, either for technical training or for qualification. This would be different from all the states in the country, and I’d argue the whole high school is technical.

How will this happen in practice?

We have mapped the regional occupations of the ten regions that hold the country’s citizenship. We already have 68 schools with this new line of secondary education combined with vocational education. Three more schools will be included, as well as 11 state Centers for Professional Education (CEEP), which will become state institutes that will also engage in research and technology education, providing little of what is seen at the university. My determination is that in 2022, all the barriers and experiment with the 68 schools and the three new schools can apply in 300 schools in 2023. The plan is to reach them all. The difficulty is that there is not enough teacher for this technical field in the permanent staff.

Are there plans to hire new professionals?

Next year, we must open a competition for effective vacancies for professors, in which technical professors enter. For qualifications, we have a Pronatec RN invoice, with six months’ notice for the professional to compete and teach. We have this project ready for launch this year. This solves one of the problems. Furthermore, we plan to increase the value of the pros, who have been without upgrades for years. We are opening this up to encourage teachers.

It is also important to reduce illiteracy. How does this work?

We used to see a decrease in the illiteracy rate, but now we’re seeing a slight increase. We have the largest proportion of illiterate people. We teach literacy with vocational training and social rehabilitation. We did it in 2019 with 2,500 agricultural technicians and only 30 students dropped out. Therefore, we hired 100 teachers and 100 agricultural technicians.

Why is vocational education given such emphasis?

We have already conducted a national survey which shows that among students with the same level of education, those who graduated from Sinai, and who have a technical education, earn more. Those who belong to the technical school earn more than those who belong to Sinai. We want Rio Grande do Norte to be the state of education, science and technology. The Macaíba Center will be a technology park, with an investment of R$3 million to start and promote research and technological innovation.

But to get to secondary education, it is also necessary to restore primary education. What is done in this study resume?

Now the return of classes is 100% edited, but there is an education plan for those in school. For those who arrive, you will need a diagnosis. Based on this survey, part of the social assistance provided by the state and municipalities, health and social assistance comes to search for those who are no longer. Between 20% and 25% of students will need a lot of technology support.

Do they have this support?

We have a group of 40 cities without broadband internet and we are preparing a contract for all municipalities to get broadband internet by the Ministry of Education. We are making acquisitions to acquire tools we did not have before due to lack of resources or teacher training, in the new concept of Nova Escola Potiguar. Of these acquisitions, 3,200 Chromebooks have been distributed in schools and trained with 400 professionals in the use of the equipment, which will double for teachers.

Will SEEC bring the Internet to these 40 municipalities?

For students in rural areas, we take the Internet, but by radio and the requirement with the company is that the school tower transmits up to 15 km. There are about 82,000 students in vulnerable situations, most of them from rural areas and they will have mold when they get home so they can use the internet outside of school.

Will schools continue to use resources for remote classrooms?

We have installed a large media and knowledge center with space to record lessons, and at each Dired, smaller centers for local registration. We will be training content teachers and there is something important, which is Saturday and Sunday two hours of classes at 6:00 am for Enem topics on open TV. We set up a studio at Régulo Tinoco recording school during the week. These chapters are also on our platform. We use the Metropolis Digital provider. We will also have televisions, cameras and microphones, so that teachers can teach and, at the same time, broadcast to any non-existent student, with or without a pandemic.