Education for liberation in Brazil
By Tania Jorquera
In a period when successive Australian governments have slashed funding to public education, a movement in Brazil has radically changed the basis of education.
The Movimiento de los Sin Tierra (Movement of those Without Land) has realised its vision of transforming and liberating education in their settlements and camps.
The leaders of MST have created a school with a new type of education — where learning actually relates to the students' everyday reality. History is taught through the eyes of the exploited. This contrasts with the method employed by "normal" schools, which teach the views of the exploiters. The MST has established 1000 public schools on the lands it has occupied since 1984.
The MST's socialist teachings are based on the work of such theorists as Che Guevara, Jose Marti, Russian teachers Anton Makarenko and Nadejda Krupskaya, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Antonio Gramsci and Mao Zedong. The schools use a revolutionary manual called The Historic Calendar of the Workers, which consists of the complete history of resistance and struggle in Brazil.
The Calendar also teaches the children about other historic revolutionary struggles. It explains how, in 1959, the revolution in Cuba triumphed, giving the bourgeoisie throughout the American continent a huge scare. It teaches that the Cuban revolution should be used as an example for all revolutions around the world. They are also taught that "this Revolution has contributed many important revolutionary thoughts, such as, that the majority united can be victorious and most of all, that the oppressors should be ready for a total overthrow".
The educators of the settlement dedicate their work to the fight for agrarian reform and social change. They want to overcome the miseries and injustices which are destroying the country.
The educators state, "We understand that education alone doesn't resolve the people's problems, but it is a fundamental element for the process of social change".
Movements such as these should inspire us even more in our struggle.