MEC to Homologate CNE AI Rules Allowing Teacher-Led Essay Marking Help

Brazil’s education minister, Leonardo Barchini, is set this week to homologate the National Education Council’s detailed opinion that creates the country’s first nationwide rules for artificial intelligence in public and private schools and universities, O Globo reported on October 13. The text will take effect after publication, with institutions given 12 months to adapt, while prohibitions apply immediately.

The biggest change from the council’s original draft is that AI tools may now help teachers mark essay questions and compositions. Grades and pass-fail decisions must still be made only by teachers; the ministry judged a total ban on AI-assisted marking too restrictive and wants the software used as a first filter, not a substitute for educators.

Risk tiers run from low uses such as accessibility captions to forbidden practices including emotional surveillance, social scoring, behavioural profiling and letting automated systems alone decide pedagogical or disciplinary outcomes. Generative AI is barred in early childhood education entirely; primary grades one to five may use non-generative tools only with teacher mediation; grades six to nine may use non-generative tools more independently under supervision.

What it means in practice

Homologation turns a long CNE debate into binding education policy and clarifies a grey zone that schools have been navigating informally. It also follows the education council’s earlier AI guidelines that still awaited MEC approval and sits alongside data-protection experiments such as the ANPD sandbox report on AI and data-protection tests. Universities must declare relevant AI use in academic work and cannot hand authorship or key decisions to machines.

What to watch: the exact wording when MEC publishes the homologated opinion, how state networks train teachers within the 12-month window, and whether essay-marking vendors can prove human-in-the-loop controls under audit.