10. The education issue

A. A useless activity?

In the Amazon, given the economic and commercial regimen and the dependence of rural workers, the bosses were not in favour of education for the young children and adolescents. Unless it was their own children, who they sent to Manaus and Belém to study. Their experience was that upon learning to read and write the small ones did not want to take on their parents’ jobs, and as soon as they could they emigrated. Therefore, the bosses would not allow them to learn anything.

The local government of Tapaua, from 1960, had built a small wooden school for twenty students and had installed rural schools in seventeen communities. But more in name than anything, because they lacked teachers and the teaching didn’t produce much actual effect.

On building the city there was no-one with any learning or pedagogical base to be a teacher, and the majority were scattered throughout the forest. The parents were illiterate and had no interest in their children receiving an education, nor did they understand the need. There was also no great political or institutional move, to support or pay for teachers or educational materials.

B. Putting hands to work

The Catholic Church was a pioneer for teaching in Tapaua. When the recollect Augusto Nowacki was named Director of the Municipal Office for Primary Education in 1963, he achieved an unheard of interest by many families to promote education.

The Augustinian Recollects, after resigning their position as Director and Secretary of the Municipal Office for Primary Education (OMEP) because of political troubles, saw the huge educational needs. They decided to open the Parish School of Dom José Alvarez, in the school year of 1965.

The local government took charge of the salaries of Dalila Saraiva and Maria do Socorro Lopes, the first two female teachers that together with the religious and Daniel Albuquerque gave classes. The 21^st of March 1966 they started the new school year, with 130 students. There were two schools, the municipal Pedro Silvestre, and another Parish one; and eight rural schools with municipal status. But the local Government didn’t feel Education was a priority, until almost fifteen years later.

In 1969 the parish school no longer functioned, and it was necessary to look for a solution. The local Government created the Teacher Marizita School, and rented from the Prelature the facilities from the now redundant school Dom José Alvarez as an annex. In 1970, the first promotion of complete primary studies in the locality graduated.

In 1973 Brazil designed a new educational system, and reorganized the schools. The Marizita School had again as director an Augustinian Recollect, Jesús Moraza. Saturnino Fernandez, the then Parish Priest, made contact with the Marists (whose charism is in education) so that they would establish the school. In 1974 the first two Marists came, José Lot y Demétrio Herman.

The Marists taught from 1974, together with two graduate teachers from Manaus. In 1975 the first native teacher with higher education from Tapaua gave classes, Fátima de Menezes. The training of teachers continued in the José de Anchieta Centre of Education and Perfection in Manaus, although always with less than was required; in 1980 there were only eight. Only in the first decade of the 21^st Century all the teachers in the public system obtained university titles, through a programme from the Amazon State University.

The Augustinian Recollect religious have been, for these last fifty years, involved in education and have been teachers of Religion, Foreign Languages and other subjects. This has allowed them to have contact with almost all the generations from Tapaua from all the districts.

C. Marist Brothers in Tapaua

In 1967 the Marist Brothers opened in Labrea the first community in the Amazon, as a commitment connected to the one hundred and fifty years of the congregation. In the 1972 Chapter they decided to open more centres: in Canutama in 1973, and in Tapaua in 1974. They immediately took charge of the Profesora Marizita School and were the teachers, along with the Augustinian Recollects and other trained lay people at advanced levels.

From 1977 the Marist Demétrio Herman was the Municipal Director of Education, and the Augustinian Recollect Jesús Moraza was co-ordinator of Rural Education. They built the Marcelino Champagnat School (in honour of the founder of the Marists), and gave more resources to rural schools. The beginning of the 1977 school year was held in the community of Mapixi, the only one with a school; in all the others teaching took place in the teacher’s house.

The Marists did not only work in education; they collaborated in liturgy, apostolic movements, social work, health and sanitation, agriculture, dressmaking and needlework, typewriting, crafts, and sports and leisure activities. They had an important role in the training of teachers and missionary doctors, through the Catholic University of Paraná. In January 1989 they closed their community due to a lack of people.

D. Literacy and Secondary Education

Another of the educational interests in the 70’s was adult literacy. For this Saturnino Fernandez combined efforts with the local Government, the Amazon State and the Brazilian Literacy Movement. In 1984, secondary education came with the building of the Antonio Ferreira de Oliveira School in which the Recollects have almost always given classes.

NEXT PAGE: 11. The health issue

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