The essay themes for the 2025 National High School Entrance Examination (ENEM) are: “Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society”published on the network by Education Minister Camilo Santana. This test requires candidates to write an argumentative essay on a topic that deals with political, cultural, social, and technological issues.
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According to Professor Rayane Roale, education assistant for the Redação Nota 1000 platform, this is an unexpected topic because it is very similar to the content asked in the National Teaching Test (PND), the federal government’s teacher evaluation this year.
— This is a great topic to tackle, and the level of complexity is average.
Caroline Lucena, editorial coordinator at Elite Rede de Ensino, points out several ways to approach this topic.
- Socializing: Brazil’s aging population and its impact on public policy and family structure.
- Economical: Increasing life expectancy is putting pressure on social security systems and the job market, but how do we ensure sustainability and dignity?
- cultural: Ageism and valuing youth at the expense of experience.
- Technology: The role of technology in promoting digital inclusion and independence among older adults.
- Health and wellbeing: The importance of preventive medicine and long-term care policy.
According to Ademar Ceredonio, Director of Education and Educational Innovation at SAS Plataforma de Educação, the theme not only deals with global aging and social security, but also sees this focus as questioning how Brazilian society is organized in relation to longevity, such as “social participation, or the fight against age discrimination, lifelong work, and the fight against care.”
— The main paper will revolve around the idea that Brazil needs to reposition older people as an active stage of citizenship, with cross-sectoral policies and a cultural shift towards longevity, in order to turn older people into social capital. It’s not always about vulnerability.
According to Thiago Braga, professor and author of Colégio e Sistema pH, a good testing strategy is to cite the Older Persons Act, approved by the country in 2003.
— This is a great reference for students to use because it is a legal instrument to protect the elderly, guarantee opportunities, and maintain physical and mental health — he evaluates.
This is the first time since 2022 that the theme does not begin with “Challenge to…”. Daniela Toffoli, writing teacher at the Anglo course, said recent vocabulary choices have helped students understand that they need to approach topics based on questions related to cause and effect.
—Thus, the first thing to be observed is this discrepancy in relation to the previous three editions, due to the use of the word “perspective”. This may confuse some poorly prepared students and end up constructing arguments that are slightly contrary to ENEM expectations. This means first problematizing the topic in the development paragraph, and only then presenting intervention proposals, say experts.
To write, students need five skills: 1) Learn formal Portuguese sentences. 2) Understand the theme and do not deviate from writing the proposal. 3) Organizing ideas. 4) Cohesion and consistency. 5) Intervention suggestions.
This Sunday is the first of two exam days, and in addition to the essay, there will be a total of 90 questions on languages and humanities (40 in Portuguese and 5 in English or Spanish). The exam started at 1pm.
Themes from the past 17 editions of Enem:
- Individuals facing national ethics (2009)
- Activities in building human dignity (2010)
- Online life in the 21st century: The limits of public and private (2011)
- Migration movement to Brazil in the 21st century (2012)
- Impact of enforcement of drying laws in Brazil (2013)
- Advertising aimed at children is a problem in Brazil (2014)
- Eliminating violence against women in Brazilian society (2015)
- The road to combating racism in Brazil (2016)
- The path to combating religious intolerance in Brazil (2016)
- Issues in education and training for the hearing impaired in Brazil (2017)
- Manipulating user behavior through data management on the Internet (2018)
- Democratizing access to film in Brazil (2019)
- Stigma related to mental illness in Brazilian society (2020)
- The challenge of reducing regional inequality in Brazil (2020 – Enem Digital)
- Invisibility and civil registration: Guaranteed access to citizenship in Brazil (2021)
- Challenges for caring for Brazil’s traditional communities and people (2022)
- Challenges to address the invisibility of care work performed by women in Brazil (2023)
- Challenges for the evaluation of African heritage in Brazil (2024)
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