Students in Curitiba’s municipal education network can be excluded from activities if parents or guardians do not sign the image use release, which includes authorization for public officials – such as the mayor, secretaries, or councilors – to use photos of children on their social networks for self-promotion. Mothers of students interviewed by Plural said they were told to sign the document, or their children could be left out of pedagogical activities that involve the use of images.
The origin of the problem is the authorization sent at the beginning of the school year to parents and guardians: the same document establishes the use of images in pedagogical activities and their dissemination for propaganda purposes, as Plural showed last month.
The document authorizes the use, sharing, and processing of personal data (image and voice, in audio and video) "for the purpose of using them in video classes, as well as on institutional media and the City Hall’s social networks and on the personal networks of municipal authorities, other media, online and offline, existing now or that may come to exist, entirely free of charge, with nothing to claim or receive".
Rogerio Galindo
The mother of a female student at a CMEI (Municipal Center for Early Childhood Education) said that at no time was she coerced to sign the authorization, but she was warned that her daughter could be left out of activities that involve drawings and paintings, which are photographed, and of internal exhibitions at the school. She preferred not to reveal her identity or the name of the CMEI.
"It’s not a threat; it’s not the teachers or the administration who take that attitude. They leave it up to the parents. But if the girl doesn’t have the document signed, they can’t use the images in the activities. Not even use the girl’s work in an exhibition inside the CMEI," she said.
The situation can generate a feeling of frustration or exclusion. "She doesn’t participate. Either they remove her when they’re going to take the photo. Or her work isn’t displayed on the bulletin board. That ends up affecting the girl: her classmates’ work is being valued and hers is not."
"That puts children at risk. I don’t post photos of my little girl on social networks—why would I allow millions of people to have access to her image? Imagine a family in which the mother has sole custody and is under protection. The father doesn’t know the whereabouts of that mother and the child, goes on the internet and sees the child in uniform on the City Hall’s social networks."
Mother of a CMEI student
The authorization aims to regularize a practice that was already common under Rafael Greca’s (PSD) administration. A report published by Plural in 2023 showed that out of every 11 posts by the then-mayor on social networks, 11 featured images of children. One third were records of visits to schools and CMEIs.
The mother of a student at another CMEI, who also asked not to reveal her identity, said she was instructed to sign the release so as not to cause problems with the attendance list. "They are small children and they make a list with badges, so the child starts to identify their name with the photo. They said they wouldn’t be able to use his photo on the list or in other activities."
When consulted, the press office of the Municipal Department of Education said it could only comment on specific cases, with identification of the CMEI and the activities.
