Candidates sitting Brazil's 2026 Enem exam were asked to write an essay on "valuing the SUS as a universal right," UOL Educação reported on Sunday. The prompt concerns the Sistema Único de Saúde, the country's public health system.
According to UOL Educação, the choice caught some observers off guard, though teachers quoted by Valor Econômico said the subject still fits the exam's tradition of tying questions to social issues. Agência Brasil also reported the essay theme.
The same exam day included questions on rare earth minerals, the Rouanet Law — Brazil's cultural incentive legislation — and the war in Iran, UOL Educação reported. Guia do Estudante noted that the women's vote and the Rouanet Law appeared among the first-day items.
The essay is the only section of Enem scored on a 1,000-point scale, and its topic typically draws wide public discussion in Brazil once the exam begins. This year's theme places the public health system and the principle of universal access at the center of that debate.
What to watch next: whether education officials and teachers publish their assessments of the prompt, and how candidates' essays on the SUS are scored when results are released.