Silencing to dominate: academic freedom under attack in the “'School Without Party”

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of Bill No. 867/2015, known as the “School Without Party” project, focusing on its impacts on academic freedom, teacher education, and the autonomy of higher education institutions. Through a qualitative and theoretical-documentary approach, grounded in authors such as Paulo Freire, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, and Marília Morosini, it argues that the project constitutes an institutional censorship mechanism that violates constitutional and pedagogical principles. The discourse of neutrality that underpins the project is problematized as a strategy of symbolic silencing and repression of critique within the school environment. The article defends the view that education is, by nature, a political and formative practice that requires the educator’s ethical commitment to plurality, social justice, and democracy. It also emphasizes the harmful effects of the proposal on teacher training programs, as it undermines the critical and reflective development of future teachers. The conclusion is that the project empties the social function of schools and universities by subjecting the educational process to a logic of surveillance and ideological control. In response, the article reaffirms the centrality of academic freedom as a non-negotiable condition for a public, democratic, and emancipatory education.