The federal government announced a new block of more than R$ 1 billion in funding for higher education in the country. With this, public universities are again at risk of not having money to pay employees and operating costs.
The contingency (temporary blocking of funds until the government decides whether or not the cut will be final) was announced last Friday (30), on the eve of the first round of elections, through Decree 11,216, which amends Decree No. 10,961, on the execution of the budget of the MEC for this year. Added to the R$ 1.34 billion in cuts announced between July and August, the contingency in education reaches R$ 2.4 billion.
In a statement, the National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (Andifes) points out that the cuts resulted in a R$ 328.5 million cut in the amounts available for university expenses.
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“This value, if added to the amount that had already been blocked throughout the year, makes a total of R$ 763 million in amounts that were withdrawn from federal universities of the budget that had been approved for this year,” says the entity. For Andifes, this new cut “puts at risk the entire system of universities”, already affected by contingencies made throughout the year.
The entity criticized, in a meeting with the Secretary of Higher Education, Wagner Vilas Boas de Souza, the fact that the contingency affects resources destined to expenses in October, which are already committed, and may lead to “very serious consequences and legal developments for federal universities”.
For Andifes, “this limitation established by the Decree, which practically exhausts the possibilities of payments from now on, is unsustainable.” The entity convened an extraordinary meeting of its board for this Thursday (6), to discuss the context and debate actions and providence.
Repercussion
On social media, the National Union of Students (UNE) denounces that the “Federal Government confiscates balance of all s of the Federal Institutes and Universities, this Wednesday, 05/10/22, and leaves no cent to pay anything!”
After the post, the hashtag #ConfiscoNaEducação (#EducationConfiscation) appeared among the most posted on Twitter.
According to an analysis by the Center for Studies I Am Science released in early September, the Bolsonaro government has recorded a 94% reduction in the investments allocated to federal universities over the last four years. Of the 21 research institutes in the country, 19 have seen their budgets fall between 2019 and 2021.
