UM NOVO IMPÉRIO EDUCACIONAL CHEGA AO RECIFE

Por : Wallace Melo

Last Thursday (02), the sale of the Eleva school, one of the lucrative educational ventures belonging to the Gera Capital group, a company whose largest shareholder is billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann, was officially announced .

And with the transaction, the Eleva school now belongs to Inspired Education , a British mega institution, owner of 80 schools, spread across five continents (Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and America). A true empire of capital, in private education. In Brazil, the group already has schools in Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador and now in Recife, totaling 11 educational establishments.

And given the magnitude of these investments, it is very valid to reflect on the interests of these business groups (national and international) in the private education sector. Because transactions like these only demonstrate how Brazil is positioned, in view of the prospects and dynamics of the educational market. And the sale of the Eleva school is one more of several evidences that show how education has been presenting itself in the country as a valuable and lucrative commodity, a fact that, in certain circumstances, even distances it from its nature as a social right and constitutional guarantee. .

But what does the arrival of these business groups in the private sector of education mean in concrete terms? Well, at first, it clearly demonstrates the existence of a strong interest of capital in literally commodifying our education. However, in this case, time itself will have the task of telling us what the implications of this market will be.

However, it is always good for us to understand, regardless of any “song of the series” that is possibly narrated throughout the country, that, given the current social and economic picture of the country, these institutions, not even remotely, are coming to “contribute” with the development and intellectual formation/emancipation of the people, nor to value the teaching profession and its group of workers. On the contrary! Commodification will be the motto of everything that is, directly or indirectly, related to its services.

For in the Brazil of billionaires, the large private school, in addition to a fertile market, is yet another imposed tool, to, at least, determine the permanence of a multitude, in the inglorious “rolê das ralés”. Because here, whoever has money, takes off.

PS – Let’s see the other countries where Inspired Education is present: United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Latvia, South Africa, Oman, Bahrain, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bahamas, Mexico , Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru.