MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian minister fails geography test and is sacked

Ms Maria Helena Guimaraes

The governor of Brazil’s richest state Sao Paulo sacked the Secretary of Education following the printing of thousands of school books with maps of South America which ignored the existence of Ecuador, inverted geographically Uruguay and Paraguay and showed Bolivia sharing territory with Paraguay.

An embarrassed governor and presidential hopeful Jose Serra was forced to give Ms Maria Helena Guimaraes the sack, not only because of the public outrage at such errors but also given the millions of dollars a reprint with the correct maps of the books would cost.

The book was intended for all sixth graders (public and private schools) and was to be distributed in Brazil’s richest state which contributes with a third of the country’s GDP and has a population of 42 million.

In the books’ maps Ecuador on the Pacific, between Peru and Colombia did not figure and the name of landlocked Paraguay was given to Uruguay which has hundreds of kilometres of beaches stretching from Argentina to Brazil.

Paulo Renato de Souza, a former federal Education minister and currently a member of the Lower House will take over Ms Guimaraes job.

In an attempt to downplay the “academic” scandal, Ms. Guimaraes said that Mr. de Souza would have “a better image ahead of the 2010 presidential election”.

“He has a greater political influence”, said Ms. Guimaraes.

Governor Serra from the opposition Social Democrat party is tipped as a favourite to win the 2010 presidential election in Brazil when the second term of President Lula da Silva and his Workers Party comes to an end.