Brazil's National Education Council published a 2025 resolution making digital and media education mandatory across basic education. The measure aims to equip children and youth to critically handle information and technologies. The guidelines address challenges such as disinformation and mental health impacts.
On March 21, 2025, Brazil's National Education Council (CNE) approved resolution CNE/CEB 2, setting National Operational Guidelines for the use of digital devices in school spaces and the curricular integration of digital and media education. This rule applies to all public and private basic education networks, making implementation mandatory from 2026.
The resolution addresses a context of widespread information access, complicated by disinformation, excessive screen use, hate speech, early social media exposure, and mental health effects. According to the document, restricting technologies alone is insufficient; education must foster understanding, critical analysis, and responsible use.
The guidelines call for progressive curricular integration, tailored to basic education stages. In early childhood education, the emphasis is on experiences, play, and exploration, with minimal and careful technology use. In fundamental and secondary education, the focus shifts to building autonomy, critical thinking, and comprehension of media, digital environments, and their social, cultural, and ethical impacts.
This approach marks a paradigm shift, moving beyond debates on cell phone bans to preparing students to analyze information, identify reliable sources, understand underlying content interests, and produce conscious communication. Media education is considered essential for 21st-century citizenship.
Furthermore, the text underscores the school's role as a space for interaction and dialogue, limiting non-pedagogical device use to encourage in-person interactions and collaborative work. Implementation requires ongoing teacher training and interdisciplinary methods. Opinion article authors in Folha de S.Paulo, such as the journalist and editor of youth magazines Qualé and Ué, stress that this education is as crucial as literacy or mathematics instruction.
