Spanish ceding ground in Rio de Janeiro schools

From an article in Portuguese here:

Spanish with its multiple accents is heard daily on the streets and beaches of Rio de Janeiro, home to tourists and thousands of Ibero-american immigrants, but Spanish is ceding ground in schools in the city as of 2014 by a decision made by city hall.

The new educational plan makes Spanish no longer mandatory in primary schools, making it an optional subject outside of normal classes.

This measure will not affect private colleges or high schools which, along with the rest of Brazil, must offer Spanish as per a law passed in 2005 in order to strengthen ties with Latin American neighbors.

The rest of the article gets into the reaction to this: apparently the government does not believe it is possible to focus on both English and Spanish, and the Association of Spanish Language Teachers is not happy that this is happening now just before the World Cup and Olympic Games.