By RICARDO NORMANHA*
The ban on repeating school meals is a reflection of a logic that increasingly aims to streamline public education, treating it as a standardized service that can be outsourced and commercialized.
The recent repercussion of the news that municipal schools in São Paulo are prohibiting repetition in school meals,[I] under the management of Ricardo Nunes, it is just another piece in a larger and more complex puzzle that structures an increasingly clear project for public education. It is a broad program, a product of neoliberal and ultraliberal ideology, based on the paradigm of new public management, of outsourcing and privatization of essential public services, including education.
In the case of school meals, outsourcing has been in place for years and illustrates the negative impacts of a management logic that disregards the pedagogical nature of all school activities. By assuming that certain functions within the school, such as food, are merely “administrative” and can be delegated to external companies, the government reinforces a false dichotomy between pedagogical and administrative activities, fragmenting the school space and educational practices.
Especially in the context of early childhood education, where mealtime is essential for children's development, the practice of offering standardized, ready-made meals disregards the pedagogical process inherent in the act of serving oneself, choosing and learning about one's own dietary needs. The transfer of school meals to third-party companies is an expression of a broader privatization project, led by Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), but which finds an echo in the privatization policy of the Government of the State of São Paulo, under the leadership of his ally Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), which has been promoting Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in key areas of education, under the pretext of efficiency and cost containment.
If the privatization consortium were restricted to right-wing and far-right figures, both neoliberals, it would be a lesser evil. But a big question arises when one sees that these privatization policies through PPPs are deliberately supported by the BNDES, politically regulated by the federal government, elected with a democratic, progressive program and with the absorption of some popular demands.
Just like school meals, other activities directly related to school education have also been outsourced and privatized, such as building maintenance, security, and the provision of teaching materials and technological resources, such as digital educational platforms. In the same week that the controversy over the ban on repeating school meals came to light, Mayor Ricardo Nunes announced that he plans to establish agreements with the private sector for the management of municipal schools,[ii] including EMEIs (Municipal Early Childhood Education Schools), EMEFs (Municipal Elementary Schools) and EMEFMs (Municipal Elementary and Secondary Schools).
PPP and outsourcing projects bring a corporate and profitable vision to schools, which is essentially incompatible with the idea of universal, free, quality and democratically managed public education. Contracting companies for these services considered non-pedagogical implies not only cutting costs to increase the efficiency of services – which does not always happen – but also reducing the school's autonomy in relation to these activities. By submitting to this type of partnership, the school begins to function as a “shadow” of the political pedagogical project, subsumed into a management model in which profit and operational efficiency take precedence over the integral education of students and the social purpose of school education.
Hiring an external company to define what children eat and how they eat it, without taking into account the learning process that takes place during meals, in practice, dehumanizes the school environment by treating children as “service users” instead of protagonists of an educational process.
The privatization of education, when promoted by municipalities, states and the federal government, represents a huge setback in guaranteeing the right to a quality public education. This movement transfers the responsibility of the State to companies, which, by their very nature, have profit as their main objective, not the well-being or full education of children. In this scenario, the role of the school as a space for promoting citizenship and the integral development of individuals is subverted, giving way to market logic.
Furthermore, the fact that the government is increasingly transferring aspects of education to the private sector creates a vicious cycle: schools become increasingly dependent on these companies, undermining the capacity for autonomous management by education professionals and the school community, and promoting the fragmentation of the school environment. The environment, which should be conceived as a pedagogical whole, is divided into different segments, managed by third parties, each with its own goals and priorities, which rarely coincide with the ultimate objectives of the educational process.
Outsourcing also has a profound impact on the makeup of the school community. Outsourced employees end up forming a workforce that is segmented from the permanent staff of schools – even though these permanent staff are increasingly dwindling, given the increasing hiring of temporary teachers – which means that they do not have the same connection or commitment to students and the institution.
The turnover of outsourced professionals, whether in the kitchen, cleaning or security, breaks down the bonds that could be established between students, teachers and staff, which are essential to strengthening bonds of belonging and community.
In this sense, the prohibition of repeating school meals is a reflection of a logic that increasingly seeks to streamline public education, treating it as a standardized service that can be outsourced and commercialized. Ultimately, this policy of progressive privatization through outsourcing and PPPs compromises students' right to a comprehensive education, disregarding the fact that each aspect of the school experience – from the classroom to the cafeteria – is an essential part of the pedagogical process.
Public education must be a space that allows for the integral development of individuals from a collective and supportive perspective. Resisting the siren song of outsourcing and privatization, defending a school that is, in fact, public and for everyone, is the most urgent task that we must undertake.
*Ricardo Normanna is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Social Sciences in Education at Unicamp.
Notes
[I] See more in the report on the GGN portal from November 9, 2024, available at https://jornalggn.com.br/gestao/governo-ricardo-nunes-proibe-criancas-de-repetir-merenda/.
[ii] See more details about the initiative in the Brasil de Fato report of November 16, 2024, available at https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2024/11/16/ricardo-nunes-planeja-convenios-com-iniciativa-privada-para-gestao-de-escolas-municipais-de-sao-paulo.
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