President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated that the approval by the National Congress of the bill that bans the use of cell phones in schools across the country was an “act of courage” by parliamentarians. Lula said he believed the project would not be approved for fear of deputies and senators of being “cancelled” on the internet.
“This sanction means recognition of the work of all the serious people who take care of education, of all the people who want to take care of children and teenagers in this country because I often imagined that deputies would not have the courage to approve this law out of fear of the internet”, said Lula at a sanction event this Monday, 13th, at Palácio do Planalto. “Deputies and senators who approved this law had an act of courage like few times in the history of Brazil.”
Lula stated that, currently, before approving a project, parliamentarians think “how many minutes they will catch on the internet, how many people will engage in talking bad about me”, he said. “So, this was an act of courage, citizenship and respect for the future of this country.”
In the wake of praise for parliamentarians, Lula assessed that the approval of the project by Congress was a “great gesture of dignity for the future” of the country. “We need to return to allowing humanism not to be exchanged for an algorithm.”
The president said that no one comes into his office with a cell phone. “Because, imagine, you are having a meeting and, when you look, everyone is looking at their cell phone and no one is looking at you; Now imagine it in a classroom.”
