[00:00.12]Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is looking to make major changes
[00:05.30]to his country's education system.
[00:09.20]Brazilian officials recently announced plans
[00:12.74]to remove subjects related to feminism, homosexuality
[00:17.68]and violence against women from school textbooks.
[00:22.68]They say the military will take over some public schools.
[00:28.48]Bolsonaro and other officials
[00:30.84]also criticize the ideas of Paulo Freire,
[00:34.64]one of Brazil's most famous educators.
[00:39.16]The announcement concerns many teachers and education officials.
[00:45.36]They say the government wants to fight an enemy that does not exist.
[00:51.84]Students may not find many differences
[00:54.97]as they return to school this month,
[00:57.36]but changes are on the way.
[01:01.24]For the government, the ideological battle begins
[01:05.08]with the removal of Freire's legacy in schools.
[01:09.96]Bolsonaro and others say Freire's way of thinking
[01:14.00]turns students into, in his words, "political militants."
[01:20.12]They say Freire's methods encourage students
[01:23.35]to go against traditional values such as family and the church.
[01:29.60]Bolsonaro and his education minster
[01:32.60]appear to be taking ideas on education
[01:35.74]from people like Olavo de Carvalho.
[01:39.40]De Carvalho is a Brazilian who lives in the United States
[01:43.60]and is known for his anti-globalism and anti-socialist views.
[01:50.40]Freire believed that the government has a responsibility
[01:54.16]to educate the Brazilian people,
[01:56.60]including poor farmers and those unable to read.
[02:01.72]But de Carvalho believes in reducing the government's part in education.
[02:07.60]Instead, private or religious schools should have that responsibility.
[02:14.24]During a talk about education on YouTube,  de Carvalho said,
[02:19.04]"The government does not have to educate anyone;
[02:22.48]it is the society that has to educate itself."
[02:27.80]Brazil has 13 military-run schools.
[02:32.36]They are aimed at educating children of soldiers,
[02:36.12]but also accept some students based on merit.
[02:41.32]The military is the most respected institution in the country.
[02:46.56]Its schools are thought to be better than many public schools.
[02:52.44]Last year, 39.5 million students attended a public school.
[02:59.20]Private schools served 9 million students.
[03:03.48]Opponents say the way military schools select students
[03:07.78]would end up being unfair to children living in poor areas.
[03:13.80]Claudia Costin is director of Brazil's Center for Excellence
[03:18.63]and Innovation in Education Policies in Rio de Janeiro.
[03:23.72]She said government efforts should center on things like
[03:27.91]improved training and wages for teachers
[03:31.64]and making the entrance test for teachers more difficult.
[03:37.20]She also supports the idea of building
[03:40.49]a common program of study for schools across Brazil.
[03:46.04]The government "complains about indoctrination at school," Costin said.
[03:51.24]"But it is not with laws that you solve these things."
[03:56.84]Brazil was 63rd out of the 72 countries and areas
[04:02.05]in the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment.
[04:08.16]The study was done by the Organization
[04:10.82]for Economic Cooperation and Development.
[04:15.60]The group says Brazil has one of the largest numbers of adults
[04:20.56]without a high-school education.
[04:23.40]Schools are overcrowded, teacher wages are low
[04:28.92]and school buildings are often in need of repairs.
[04:34.64]Government reports say more than 5,800 schools
[04:39.60]had no water supply in 2017.
[04:44.00]Nearly 5,000 had no electricity
[04:47.48]and 8,400 had no waste removal systems.
[04:53.20]I'm Jonathan Evans.