Brazil’s education minister resigns after five days, because of embellished résumé
- Economist Carlos Decotelli’s resume included a doctorate and postdoctoral work that were not completed
- Predecessor also quit after controversies, including making racist anti-Chinese comments on Twitter
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s latest education minister reportedly offered his resignation Tuesday just five days after his appointment, creating a new headache for the embattled leader as he struggles to start a new chapter at the ministry and shore up flagging support.
Economist Carlos Alberto Decotelli, facing a slew of allegations that he embellished his academic credentials, tendered his resignation in the afternoon, Brazilian media reported.
Bolsonaro said in a Facebook posting: “Due to curricular inadequacies the professor (Decotelli) is facing all kinds of delegitimisation”.
The president announced on social media Thursday that Decotelli would take over the education ministry, and Bolsonaro highlighted degrees the professor had from universities in Brazil and abroad. Soon enough, three of those institutions began disavowing the achievements of Decotelli, who was yet to be sworn in.
In the most recent case, the Getulio Vargas Foundation said Tuesday the would-be minister was neither a researcher nor a professor at the Brazilian university as had been reflected in Decotelli’s resume shared by the government. Rather, he had acted as a collaborating professor in postgraduate courses, the school said in a statement.
“The professor acted only in courses of continued education, in programmes for executive development and not as a professor in any of the FGV’s schools,” the statement said.