Palmas school students dismissed following power outage

The Education Workers Union of the State of Tocantins (Sintet) has denounced a breakdown in municipal public education in Palmas following a power outage at the ETI Caroline Campelo school. The electricity suspension forced the dismissal of students around 3:00 PM on Tuesday, August 11.

Sintet claims the incident is a direct consequence of the administration of Mayor Eduardo Siqueira Campos, which centralized financial resources within the Municipal Education Secretariat (SEMED) in June 2025. Previously, schools operated under a decentralized model that allowed directors to use funds autonomously for immediate needs such as water, electricity, and cleaning supplies.

The union argues that this shift has stripped school directors of the autonomy required to resolve basic daily emergencies, leading to what they describe as a dismantling of the municipal public education system.