São Paulo – Former Health Minister and Federal Deputy Alexandre Padilha (PT-SP) filed for representation at the Federal Audit Court (TCU) asking for an investigation into the lack of sanitary conditions during the first stage of the National High School Exam (Enem) amid the advance of the pandemic. During the application of the test last Sunday (17) students denounced agglomerations in the implementation of Enem throughout the country, and that the limit of 50% of capacity in the test places was not respected.

The participants even reported that they were prevented from taking the test due to the overcrowding of the rooms. Even so, according to the Public Defender’s Office (DPU), the occupancy rate was 80% in several places, which did not prevent the agglomerations from marking the Enem. Many students, even, had already given up taking the exam, which registered an abstention of 51%, due to the danger of contagion.

Padilha warns of the “incompetence, management inability and health irresponsibility of the managers involved”. And he says that the completion of the second stage of Enem next Sunday (25) will result in an increase in public expenditure, due to the likely risk of contamination.

Urgent measure

The ex-minister requires, as an urgent measure, that the National Institute for Educational Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep) and the Ministry of Education be determined to respect the health protocols for preventing and combating the pandemic for the realization of new dates, “avoiding thus, to hold massive events and agglomerations without any preparation for this, causing unnecessary displacements and exposing thousands of young Brazilian students to risk ”.

In addition to the explanations of the facts reported, Padilha also asks that the public managers involved in this “disastrous event” be held responsible.

Reapplication

For those who did not perform the exam because they had symptoms of covid-19, and who proved this condition, between January 25 and 29, they can request to reapply the test. The guidance is also valid for those who took the first test, but showed symptoms throughout this week. The reapplication will take place on February 23 and 24.

According to the president of Inep, Alexandre Lopes, the reapplication is also valid for those who were prevented from participating in the race due to overcrowding. This alternative was also defended by the National Students Union (UNE) and by the Brazilian Union of Secondary Students (Ubes).

Ubes has even created a virtual channel so that participants can report irregularities that occurred in this edition of Enem. From them, the entity will enter judicial and extra judicial measures in defense of students.

The reapplication is also valid for students from Amazonas and from the cities of Rolim de Moura and Espigão do Oeste, in Rondônia. They had the application of the suspended test due to the worsening of the pandemic in these regions.