Brasilia, November 5 (RHC)-- About 200,000 students in Brazil have missed their entrance exams for college, as students continue to occupy more than 1,000 educational institutions in the country in protest against the right-wing, pro-asuterity coup government of President Michel Temer.
The massive, months-long protest is targeting the PEC 241 reform supported by President Temer, which will freeze public spending for the next 20 years, including the budget allocated for education.
Students have organized a nationwide occupation of at least 1,108 public schools and universities across 19 states, as well as the federal district that contains the capital, Brasilia. Of these, some 304 schools where exams were recently scheduled are currently being occupied by students.
About 8.6 million Brazilian students were expected to take their exams on November 5th and 6th, but authorities have now given affected institutions additional time to find alternative dates for students to take their exams.
Since he took power in August, Michel Temer, who led the parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff, has introduced a series of sweeping privatization proposals and cuts in education, health and other social programs.
In the state of Parana alone, students have occupied 851 schools while 66 have been occupied in Minas, 13 in Rio Grande do Sul and 10 in Rio Grande do Norte. In Rio de Janeiro, there are currently seven occupied schools while five more have been occupied in Brazil's largest state, Sao Paulo.