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Mayor Bruno Covas (PSDB) announced at a press conference on Wednesday (16) a transfer of funds to students of the municipal system for the purchase of uniforms and school supplies. The credit will be available through a mobile application as of January 18, 2021. However, there is still no forecast for the total return of face-to-face classes in the city.
As happened this year, the City Council will stop centralizing the distribution of the uniform, which must be purchased directly by families in businesses accredited by municipal management.
Elementary, middle school and preschool students will receive R $ 387 to buy the standard kit with five shirts, five pairs of socks, one pants, one jacket, one jacket, one shorts and one pair of sneakers. But, according to the City Council, starting next year, families can substitute one item for another as needed.
The school supply kit will have funds per student that vary from R $ 33.40 for children in Nursery 1 and 2 until R $ 178 for elementary students.
Aid program of the Municipality of São Paulo for the purchase of school uniform – Photo: Disclosure / Municipality of São Paulo
According to Covas, 650 thousand children benefited from the uniform of 1.81 million school supplies, a figure that includes nursery students. The City’s investment will be R $ 373 million.
“[Este investimento é] Important at this time when it is said that the economy is overheating and that the City Council’s spending was made centrally, often acquiring companies that won these contests and that were not even from the city of São Paulo and that this resource now It will help to reheat the economy and the activation of local commerce, close to the residences where all our students live ”, said Covas.
Face-to-face classes were suspended in the city on March 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although the state of São Paulo already authorized the return of regular face-to-face classes in October, municipalities have autonomy to adopt stricter rules.
In the city of São Paulo, Covas authorized the return only for high school and youth and adult education (EJA) students, on November 3. The other grades can attend two hours a day of tutoring and extracurricular activities starting in September.
On Wednesday, the municipal secretary of Education, Bruno Caetano, said that the 2021 calendar has already been set for classes to return on February 4, but there is still no definition on the return of the other grades.
“Classes are already scheduled for next year, the calendar is already published, on February 4 we will have classes at that time. We still do not know if in person, we must wait for the guidance of the municipal health secretary, as we have done from the beginning. “he affirmed.
The secretary also stated that the units underwent reforms to adapt to sanitary measures to prevent contagion by the coronavirus.
“The schools are already prepared, organized, all the necessary materials have been acquired and indicated by the health protocols. The transfers have also been made to the schools so that small repairs and small interventions can be made directly with the management team. 2020 is the largest known school reform program in the city of São Paulo. ”
Report by SP2 On December 7, however, he noted that some municipal schools still need basic renovations such as the installation of faucets in the bathrooms to make it possible to wash hands.
At the beginning of the year, the Municipality of São Paulo directly passed a card of R $ 215 to the students of the school and the elementary school for the purchase of school uniforms for the 2020 school year.
The credit was received via cell phone application, but there was a delay in the delivery of the tool and the students started the school year without school supplies or uniforms.
The decision to provide direct credit to families came after a tender for the purchase of more than 661,000 uniform kits ran into problems. The tender was canceled, with the disapproval of the 20 companies that participated in the competition.
At that time, the municipal administration accused the bidders of “collusion” in delivering low-quality material to try to lower the purchasing standard.
Delayed delivery of tablets
Although the City Council declared, on December 8, that it would begin the distribution of tablets with internet access promised to assist in distance education in the coming days, Bruno Caetano admitted on Wednesday that the devices have not reached the students yet.
“We should already begin to deliver 10,000 pieces to our students in December. This first delivery will be privileged, especially those students who had the greatest difficulties accessing the Internet,” said the secretary at the press conference on Wednesday.
In August, the management of Bruno Covas had promised to deliver 465,000 tablets in December to the municipal network, more than nine months after the closure of schools. Bruno Covas even mentioned the acquisition of the team in the propaganda of his election campaign for reelection.
On December 8, however, Bruno Caetano stated that only 10% of the total would be distributed in 2020. On that occasion, the secretary stated that the delay was due to problems in the bidding process, which was stopped by the Court of Municipality Accounts (TCM) twice.
On Wednesday, Caetano stated that “there is no delay” in the delivery of materials and that there is an “international crisis of spare parts.”
“There is no delay, I need to make this very clear. It is not correct to assume that the City of São Paulo began to acquire this equipment in March, when the schools closed. In the public administration, we must follow the steps required by law. Bearing in mind Note that the Court of Accounts itself supervised our public notices, stopping the procedures twice, but helping the Municipal Secretary of Education to improve the quality of our public notices, so we have a process, a critical path that is not common for the administration So it wasn’t 9 months, it was just over 3 months from the date the decision to buy the equipment was announced until they were finally delivered, “he said.
Also remembering that there is a global international crisis of spare parts, raw material for all types of electronics, so it is quite difficult at this time of the pandemic to make this acquisition. But with all these difficulties, the tender was carried out, the contract was signed, the data services were ordered and the first equipment will arrive next week ”, he added.
