Winner of the 2021 Jabuti Prize for literary novel, the book “O Avesso da Pele”, by Jeferson Tenório, is the subject of controversy in a school in Santa Cruz do Sul, a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
On Friday (1st), the director of Escola Ernesto Alves, Janaina Venzon, classified the work as inappropriate for high school students. In a video posted on his Instagram profile, Venzon reads excerpts from the book.
“It is regrettable that the Federal Government, through the MEC, acquired this literary work and sent it to schools with such low-level vocabularies to be worked on with high school students. I ask the Ministry of Education to collect the 200 copies sent to the school. We value the education of our students and not because of vulgarity”, wrote the director in the caption of the post.
“For more information, making it clear: The teachers did not choose this literary work. The school did not choose any literary work. The literary works are being chosen by the Federal Government. I do not know the Government’s selection criteria, I just think they should analyze first, and then send it to schools for work”, the text continues.
The book had been selected via the National Book and Teaching Material Program (PNLD), a program that, together with the National Education Development Fund (FNDE), buys and distributes books and teaching materials to teachers and students in public schools across the country. country.
Publishers sign up to participate in the PNLD within deadlines defined by the FNDE and published in the notice. The works entered undergo technical, physical and pedagogical screening carried out by specialists. Teachers must participate in the analysis and choice of books, and the record of the chosen works is carried out by the school director.
Councilor Rodrigo Rabuske (PRD), from Santa Cruz do Sul, also released a video on his social networks on Friday (1st) in which he repudiates the work.
When contacted, the State Department of Education (Seduc) of Rio Grande do Sul says that “no one from the regional education coordinator ordered the books to be collected.”
In an official note, it informs that “the choice of literary works is carried out directly by the schools’ management teams. They are part of a catalog provided for in the National Textbook Program (PNLD), of the Ministry of Education (MEC).”
The Ministry of Education also sent an official note. “The National Book and Teaching Material Program (PNLD) is a relevant policy of the Ministry of Education with more than 85 years of existence and with adherence of more than 95% of education networks in Brazil. Permanence in the program is voluntary, in accordance with the legislation, in compliance with one of the basic principles of the PNLD, which is respect for the autonomy of networks and schools”, begins the text.
“The acquisition of works takes place through a public call, in an equal and transparent manner. These works are evaluated by professors, masters and doctors, who have registered with the MEC’s bank of evaluators. The approved books become part of a catalog in which schools can choose, in a democratic way, the materials that best suit their pedagogical reality, with respect for the pluralism of pedagogical concepts as a guideline.”
“O Avesso da Pele” tells the story of Pedro, a 22-year-old boy, who writes in the first person the “invented truth” about his father, Henrique, a literature teacher murdered by the police in Porto Alegre. The work sheds light on the intimate fracture caused by racism.
Companhia das Letras, which published “O Avesso da Pele”, said it repudiated any act of censorship and made a post on its Instagram profile. According to the text, the book “was approved by a panel of educators, specialists and masters in literature and Portuguese language along with 530 other titles”.
“To get to the school in question, it still had to be approved by the director herself, who signed the ‘minutes of choice’ document for the work and is now contesting the content of the book. This data is transparent and public”, says the caption of the post .
“The removal of copies of a book, based on a distorted and decontextualized interpretation of isolated excerpts, is an act that violates the fundamental principles of education and democracy, impoverishes cultural debate and undermines students’ ability to develop critical and reflective thinking What stands out in ‘O Avesso da Pele’ is not a scene, nor the language, but rather the blunt denunciation of racism that permeates all our relationships, even the most intimate.”
The author of the work also spoke out on his networks. “After repercussion and a motion from a councilor, the 6th CRE ordered the copies to be collected from schools and libraries until the federal government speaks out (…). Distortions and fake news are strategies of an extreme right that promotes misinformation The most curious thing is that the ‘bad’ words and sexual acts in the book cause more discomfort than racism, police violence and the death of black people”, he wrote.
Jeferson Tenório is also the author of “O Beijo na Parede” and “Estela sem Deus”, as well as a writer and literature teacher. In 2022, he used his social networks to say that he had been receiving death threats after announcing a lecture he would give at a school in Salvador. According to him, it would be a reprisal for “O Avesso da Pele”.
Tags: Director calls censorship book racism disgusting Illustrated
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