BRAZIL
There have been calls for Brazil’s Minister for Education to resign after he was ridiculed for a series of high-profile spelling mistakes.
Parents and academics said the reputation of Abraham Weintraub (pictured) was in tatters and should lead to his immediate expulsion from office.
Mr Weintraub’s latest gaffe came when he sent a Twitter message to the politician son of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, containing the bogus claim that there had been no academic study of public security issues in Brazil.
In the tweet he misspelled the Portuguese word for “amazing”; instead of “impressionante,” he wrote “imprecionante.”
The 48-year-old Minister was similarly ridiculed for using the misspelled word “suspenção” (“suspention”) in an official document.
On another occasion Mr Weintraub – one of Mr Bolsonaro’s most loyal, provocative and, to critics, poorly chosen subordinates – appeared to confuse the author Franz Kafka with kafta, a Middle Eastern meat dish.
His latest slip triggered a mix of merriment and mortification.
Political journalist, Eliane Cantanhêde described the mistakes as disgraceful and crass.
“We might joke, but I think this is so serious,” Ms Cantanhêde wrote.
“He is the Minister of Ed-uc-at-ion.”
Philosophy Professor at Bahia State’s Federal University, Daniel Peres said it was obvious the “mediocre” Minister was not up to his job.
“The spelling mistakes are the least of his problems,” Professor Peres said.
“The truth is he’s the frontline of the Government’s ideological faction.”
“My sense is that they have no vision for Brazilian education,” he said.
Brasilia, 11 January 2020
