Enem 2026 begins with 5 million registrants and a first-ever companion option for candidates with anxiety

Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.

Brazil's 2026 National High School Exam (Enem) begins this Sunday (Nov. 8) with 5,051,345 confirmed registrations, the highest number since 2020, according to g1. Women make up 63.98% of registrants, and more than 3.4 million participants were exempted from the fee.

One of this edition's changes is the addition of about 10,000 test sites across the country. According to g1, the government wants to reduce the number of students who need to travel to another municipality and increase the share of students who take the test at their own school. The Ministry of Education (MEC) estimates that 80% of public school graduating seniors will take the exam at the school where they are enrolled.

The measure is aligned with an ordinance published in May by the MEC and aims to enable the integration of Enem into the Basic Education Assessment System (Saeb), so that the exam's results also serve to measure the quality of teaching. For public school seniors who will still need to travel, the ministry is studying ways to support transportation between cities.

For the first time, candidates with anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) will be able to have an authorized companion on test days. According to the MEC, 11,529 registrants requested this accommodation, which was set out in the May exam notice.

Specialized assistance now also covers people with fibromyalgia, a chronic syndrome marked by widespread pain. To receive the accommodation, participants had to request it when registering and, if necessary, file an appeal within the deadline set in the exam notice. The exam keeps accommodations such as large-print tests, video tests in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language), screen readers, 60 minutes of extra time and calculators for participants with dyscalculia.